The Legend of Minako Namikaze
by CyberCluck
Summary: The Uchiha adopted Naruto as a kid, so he and Sasuke share the pain of the Massacre. But the brothers never would have guessed just how much Itachi hid from them. For starters, Naruto has an older sister... Eventual OP Sakura, NarutoXSakura, SasuNaru, ItachiXOC, KakashiXOC, No Yaoi, No Lemon, mostly Itachi/OC (and Naruto and Sasuke) centric, T for mild language and implied sex, AU
1. Prologue

When the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox into his newborn son, Naruto, just before dying, his wish had been for Naruto to be a hero. To be respected throughout Konoha for involuntarily taking on the burden of life as a jinchuriki. But it seemed that dream could never be realized, not even after Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, was reinstated and personally declared the infant to be a hero. The civilians and some of the shinobi deemed Naruto a demon.

The Third supposed he could only wait for Naruto to turn 8, and then have an operative deliver him money every month and hole him up in a dingy apartment. He did so, but after a few months it was clear that this didn't suit Naruto. He would be beaten up on an almost daily basis by some of the villagers and even shinobi, though they were only genin or lesser chunin. The Third decided enough was enough, and he called a council meeting to determine an alternate solution.

The council members were well aware of Naruto's true heritage, and everyone had looked up to his father. But still, no one was even remotely willing to take him in, let alone help him.

All except a few people. The first to speak up was Hiashi Hyuga. Eager to gain some power for his clan, he suggested that Naruto be taken in by the Hyuga clan. This sparked much controversy in the council, considering the already immense influence the Hyuga had in the village.

After the Hokage, Koharu, and Homura had gotten everyone to settle down, another controversial person raised his hand.

"Yes, Uchiha-san?"

Fugaku Uchiha rose to speak. "Hokage-sama, I believe it would be practical for the Uchiha clan to raise Naruto." Fugaku paused for a moment. When he spoke again, his tone was ominous. "As head of the Police, I can offer Naruto protection against, _ahem_, _certain citizens_ who dared to threaten and attack him." He looked some of the people this applied to dead in the eyes. "Additionally, my wife, Mikoto, was a close friend of Naruto's late mother. She may be able to become the closest thing Naruto will ever have to a real mother. Lastly, we have two other boys in our household: Itachi and Sasuke. Sasuke and Naruto are around the same age, so Naruto will have a friend and brother to form a bond with, and Itachi can act as a role model, also ensuring that Naruto is loyal to the Leaf." Fugaku tried to hide his disgust for the villagers when talking about Naruto's loyalty to the Leaf (he had seen Naruto talking about his dream to become Hokage, and after seeing him a few times with the Third, he had no doubt in Naruto's love for the people), and luckily, only more experienced shinobi who were smart enough to know that Naruto was really a hero, not a demon, were able to detect the venom in his voice.

Some of the civilians and Hiashi began to speak up.

"Silence!" Yelled the Hokage. Then, he turned to Koharu and Homura. After some discussion, all three could be seen nodding to each other. After that, the Hokage turned to face the rest of the council. "Since the three of us have determined Uchiha-san's solution to be the most practical one, and no one can offer a better idea, we have unanimously decided to transfer custody of Naruto to the Uchiha Clan. The meeting is dismissed. Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san, please take these papers to fill out and return within three days to finalize the details."

They both immediately replied, "Hokage-sama, we would prefer to take care of this now, if you aren't opposed to it."

The Hokage nodded. "Come with me."

After some aggressive paper-signing

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Thank _you_, Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san. Naruto will be very happy about this. Just let me get him for you. Wait here for a minute." He went inside and called Naruto and told him that a family had been found for him. When they both appeared at the door, Naruto had the most delightful smile on his face. The Hokage spoke once more.

"Fugaku-san, Mikoto-san, I was going to give you some time to get to know Naruto and have him move in tomorrow, but he's ready to go right now."

And so Naruto was given assistance with moving what little he had to the Uchiha Compound, and he was taken there to get acquainted with his new family.


	2. Chapter 1: A New Family

Naruto had basically been alone since he could remember. Even though the Third Hokage had managed to keep him under his wing until he reached the age of 8, Naruto still spent a lot of time alone. The ANBU weren't much fun, seeing as how they had trained their emotions away. Sarutobi was busy all the time, being Hokage, but there were a few moments they managed to share when they would go to Ichiraku Ramen, a place Naruto had discovered on one of the occasional walks the two would go on.

Still, Naruto didn't really feel anything special for the old man. He was just someone to chat with in the little moments they shared together.

Although Naruto did want to become Hokage because it was apparent to him that in terms of respect, he and Sarutobi were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Naruto was hated by almost everyone. This alone was enough to motivate him to become Hokage, but one of his other experiences with Sarutobi shed a new light on him for Naruto.

Naruto had once asked a few of the staff at the Hokage tower exactly what it was that Sarutobi had done to become so respected. He was told of the immense power that Sarutobi wielded in his prime, and even his insane level of power at present, and what he had used that power for. But he also saw Sarutobi helping people with certain difficulties at times, and always trying to be moderate and keep everyone happy.

It wasn't much, but for someone like Naruto, seeing even a tiny act of compassion such as that went a long way in his heart, regardless of who it was directed at. Naruto resolved that even if he didn't become Hokage, he did want to become powerful and a beacon of light who could help people in all ways, big or small. He wanted to become powerful enough to face his enemies alone, but still be human. He first saw the amalgamation of all these traits in Sarutobi. Based on the little stories he'd started to hear from the staff at the Hokage tower, he found a word for such people: heroes. He liked the ring of that word. _Hero_. _**Yeah**_, he thought, _**I wanna be someone who people can call their hero. Someone they can look to for support and inspiration. I want to bring peace to the world. I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly and no one has to suffer the same pain I did ever again.**_

Back to the end of the Prologue

Naruto was 8 when he was introduced to another group of people that he would come to regard as his heroes: the Uchiha.

The actions of Fugaku and Mikoto had brought new happiness and color to Naruto's life. Even he remembered how much his face and eyes had lit up that day.

A few months after the adoption

With the addition of Naruto, the Uchiha compound had become at least a hundred times as lively. Sasuke finally had a sparring partner who didn't have to hold back against him. In one way or another, Naruto had worked his way into the hearts of all the Uchiha. Even the cold Fugaku had begun to open up at least a little.

As far as Naruto's training was concerned, Naruto was making incredible progress.

Naruto and Sasuke were mostly trained by Itachi and Shisui, but otherwise, Mikoto trained them or they used specially prepared scrolls from the Uchiha library to practice and learn new jutsu. The first step in their training was the chakra nature test. When Sasuke infused the paper with his chakra, it burned up, signifying his affinity towards Fire (an Uchiha trait). When Naruto did the same, his paper was ripped to shreds, signifying a strong affinity for Wind.

Naruto was powered by his resolve to become strong so he could bring peace to the world, and so he focused hard on his training, being almost on par with Sasuke when it came to the Fire Style Jutsu (it didn't tire him out as much due to his chakra reserves, but he did use more chakra to do it). But Itachi recognized that Naruto would be much better off if he did some Wind Style training, too. So, Itachi asked the Hokage to allow Asuma Sarutobi to help Naruto out with Wind Style. Asuma trained Naruto in various basic Wind Style Justu, and even gave him chakra blades to practice with.

Outside of training, Naruto began to learn to love the Uchiha as his own family over the next few months. He began to call Mikoto and Fugaku "kaa-san" and "tou-san" instead of "Mikoto-san" and "Fugaku-san". He called Itachi, Shisui, and even Sasuke "Nii-san". And his new family was responding in similar ways. Fugaku began to smile regularly. Itachi, Shisui, and Sasuke accepted Naruto as a brother.

Skip to age 10

Naruto and Sasuke were well into their first year at the Academy. They had even found great friends in the likes of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Kiba Inuzuka. All in all, things were pretty great. Well, except for the fangirls…

Naruto may have seemed stupid at the start of the year, and whenever they did any chakra exercises, his control was terrible, but as time passed, he began to win over some of his classmates. They could see that he would always put in effort, and some of them found his drive inspiring. Of course, most of these people were just other boys, as the better part of the girls were too busy swooning over Sasuke's "hot face and body" to notice. Sasuke was greatly annoyed by this, and sometimes he would express a distaste for the girls, especially the ones that called Naruto a "baka".

But _nothing gold can stay_.

Itachi and Shisui had noticed that some of the Uchiha were beginning to consider treason. The feeling spread through the whole clan, and soon, both young men were also dragged into it, and they would meet in secrecy every so often in the place in the main hall, under the seventh tatami mat from the far right. It was then that Itachi and Shisui began to realize they had to do something to save the Uchiha clan from itself. They both knew full well that the coup their kin was planning would serve only to weaken Konoha as a whole and wipe the entire Uchiha clan from the face of the earth.

They knew they had to do something to break the vicious cycle that was the _Curse of Hatred_. But they did see hope in Naruto. Naruto had worked his way into the hearts of all the Uchiha in some way or other, and Itachi and Shisui knew that Naruto's personality and the way that he radiated happiness and compassion would be crucial to redeeming the Uchiha peacefully. If worse came to worst, they supposed that they would simply have to kill all the Uchiha, and spare Naruto and Sasuke so they could kill Itachi and Shisui, breaking the cycle. But Itachi did love other members of the Uchiha dearly besides his three brothers, and so he resolved only to use that method as a last resort.

Before the next Uchiha meeting regarding the coup

It was nearly Naruto and Sasuke's bedtime, and there were also about 15 minutes to go until the Uchiha meeting for the coup. Naruto was going to join Sasuke when he felt a hand on his shoulder. A voice belonging to the body of the hand said "Psst, Naruto. Come with me for a minute."

He turned. "Shisui Nii-san? What's wrong?"

"Shhh. I'll tell you, but we have to hurry, or someone will find us out."

Naruto didn't like the sound of fear in Shisui's voice, so he complied immediately.

Shisui took Naruto to his room. He closed the door, grabbed an hourglass set to time 8 minutes (he needed to make sure that he and Itachi weren't risking being late to the meeting), and, along with Itachi, who was also in the room, wove hand seals to create a sound barrier, and nodded at Itachi.

"Shisui Nii-san, Itachi Nii-san, what are you doing?"

"Naruto, we have to make sure no one else can hear what we are about to tell you. Do you understand? You are not to tell anyone a soul about this _**UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE**_. Is that clear?" Itachi's voice was dead serious as he answered Naruto's question.

"Okay, but why me?"

Itachi sighed. They would have to hurry to squeeze all this into just 8 minutes. "Naruto, I'm sorry to sound so blunt, but since you initially grew up without parents and had to fend for yourself, I'm sure you felt great pain in your heart, and could more easily notice the pain others were going through. I've even seen it in your behavior and demeanor, and I know for a fact that you are very mature. I don't want to upset Sasuke about this, but I know you can handle it."

Naruto nodded. He did not like where this was going in the least, though.

Itachi continued. "I'm sure that when you were in the Hokage's care, you would have heard about the tensions between the Uchiha and the rest of the village, correct?" When Naruto nodded in assent, Itachi went on. "Good. Now, the other Uchiha have all had a mind to stage a coup d'état against the village. For the last few weeks, they have been holding secret meetings at a secret location within this compound to discuss the coup."

Naruto was indignant. "What! How can this be! How can they not see that this will just hurt all of us?"

Itachi and Shisui exchanged a glance. They smiled inwardly, knowing they had done the right thing.

Shisui abruptly broke in. "Exactly. You're exactly right, Naruto. This will only serve to weaken the village and kill off all of the Uchiha. Every last one. And we can't let that happen."

Naruto agreed. "But how am I supposed to play a part in this?"

Itachi spoke. "The Uchiha are plagued by something known as the _Curse of Hatred_. The slightest trigger will activate this Curse in an Uchiha. The Curse greatly accelerates the growth of the Sharingan, but invariably, all who fall victim to the Curse go down a dark path." Itachi paused for a minute to kneel in front of Naruto and put his hands on Naruto's shoulders, bringing his own eyes to Naruto's eye level for emphasis. "I think that you can save them from the Curse. I've noticed that you have a special way of changing people. Do you think you can do it?"

Naruto looked Itachi dead in the eye, but this time, Itachi could see a steely determination in his eyes. "Yes. I will do it. I _must_ do it. How will I bring peace to the world if I can't bring peace to my own family?"

Itachi was taken aback by the confidence he oozed. He composed himself and smiled at Naruto. "Good man. I need you to 'accidentally' find the meeting. Do you think you could do that?"

Next meeting

The Uchiha were debating once more about how to stage the coup. Fugaku, Itachi, and Shisui, however, were protesting, saying that the coup should lead to as little harm as possible. At that moment, footsteps could be heard. All heads in the room turned towards the source.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" inquired Fugaku.

"I heard voices and followed them. Tou-san, what's all this about bloodshed?" Naruto did know about this, but he put all the mixed emotions -hurt, anger, sadness, and the like- that he was feeling over the topic into his voice.

Some of the clansmen/women felt a pang of shame.

Itachi took the opportunity to speak up. "Naruto, the rest of the clan is planning to fight the village. They wouldn't say no to that. We're trying to reason with them to ensure that the bloodshed is kept to a minimum, but even that's proving difficult."

Naruto was visibly upset. He had never expected things to be this bad. He truly did feel hurt now.

"Why?" he said, sounding almost broken. "Why would you fight against the people who tolerate you? Why are you so narrow-minded? Why are you so _stubborn_? Don't you see? The hatred you foster for outsiders will only be your undoing! Did you even stop to consider the numbers and power of the village? Even with the Sharingan, you would only be able to fight off so many shinobi! Inevitably, all we would be doing is wiping ourselves out! And making Konoha weak! You may have been cast out by the masses, but don't forget that even though I'm not a true Uchiha, I am one of you! Don't you understand? Unlike me, you had each other, and even then, you failed to appreciate that. We outcasts need to stick together. _We _are the ones who can bring change to the world."

Everyone was visibly shocked. Some opened their mouths to speak, but Naruto cut them off.

"And didn't you stop to think of the children? Do you truly believe that it's okay to burden _children_ with loss and bloodshed? That it's okay to take away their families from them? And not just Sasuke and me, but the children of others, too? Look at yourselves! And you say you're the mighty Uchiha clan." Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He broke down and began sobbing quietly, unable to keep in his bitterness about how the world could be so cruel, about how _people_ could be so cruel and heartless.

The Uchiha were all looking guilty and ashamed. It seemed they had realized their mistake. Itachi and Shisui took it from there as Fugaku and Mikoto went to console Naruto.

"We have felt the pain of loss indirectly through the Third Shinobi War. Naruto has felt even greater pain since he could remember. Are you really okay with giving this pain to everyone? We must not rebel against the one place that kept us, that accepted us. We are the Uchiha, who posses the Sharingan. How, then, can we fail to see that we are under attack from ourselves?"

That day, the Elders of the Uchiha declared that they would actively work to purge all hatred from their clan.

Everything was finally beginning to look up for the Uchiha. But tensions just kept growing. Even if the Uchiha were beginning to 'behave', it would take a long time to gain the trust of the village. And despite this fortunate development, Danzo, Homura, and Koharu were still opposed to letting the Uchiha off the hook. The Third Hokage's case fell on deaf ears. Perhaps it might really become necessary to take drastic measures after all.

A/N: Sorry if the writing is bad; I'm just having a bit of trouble setting up the story. I know where I want to take this, but I feel like the buildup is gonna be a bit shaky. I hope you can bear with me. I'm also going to be looking for a beta reader. Peace!


	3. Chapter 2: A Means to an End

Tensions were continuing to build between the Uchiha and the rest of the village. Despite the clan's change of heart, people still accused them of treachery. Some even went so far as to say that the clan was weaponizing Naruto with the Sharingan.

Itachi and Shisui did not like where this was going. They both agreed that something had to be done. They figured that it would even do just to relocate and take the clan outside the village. Little did they know, such plans were also taking shape elsewhere…

Danzo was not very happy about what the Uchiha were doing. He _really_ wanted to kill them. Itachi or Shisui would have been great for the job, but now even they had sided with their kin. Danzo was one day approached by a man. The man wore an orange mask that revealed only his right eye. He offered to help Danzo do what he wanted to do. Danzo didn't really have many options, so he figured that would do. The man didn't even want anything in return.

Timeskip

Shisui had become very distraught over the past two weeks, driving him to commit suicide. Itachi decided to jump into action the very next day. Unfortunately, this was the same day the masked man had planned to carry out Danzo's orders (but fortunately, Naruto and Sasuke were off practicing late as always). The man had arrived shortly before Itachi, and he had already begun murdering the Uchiha. Itachi ditched his plan and followed the man's trail, but he was always a step behind. _If I can't save everyone that remains, I'll just have to at least make sure mother and father are fine_.

Itachi reached his parents just as the masked man had reached them. He defected the man's knife, and proceeded to attack him, the Sharingan blazing to life in his eyes. But the man threw a shuriken and used **kage bunshin no jutsu** to duplicate it. With the Sharingan, dealing with all of them was a piece of cake, but the man had used a kage bunshin to do that too. The real man had backed Mikoto and Fugaku into a corner. He slit both their throats with a kunai. Then, he shunshined away, having completed the mission.

At this moment, Naruto and Sasuke had reached the very same building. They saw Itachi standing over the corpses of Mikoto and Fugaku, sword still drawn. They 'put two and two together'. Then, almost in unison: "Itachi nii-san? Why? Why…? How could you do such a horrible thing?"

Itachi shifted his cold gaze from Mikoto and Fugaku's bodies to his brothers. An idea struck Itachi. "To test the limits of my power," he replied.

Naruto and Sasuke were at a loss for words. "To… what?"

Sasuke's eyes showed a combination of hate, fear, confusion, and sadness. Naruto's showed only disbelief.

Itachi spoke again. "Hate me! Let your hatred foster. Become stronger. And one day, you shall face me in combat." He turned and began to leave.

The brothers tried to stop him, but he was simply too powerful. And he wasn't even using the Sharingan. In a burst of blinding speed, Itachi was right before them, and he socked both boys in the gut so hard that they passed out.

Timeskip

Word of what had happened spread quickly. Of course, the children were never informed. But the effects of the massacre reached them indirectly, through Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke had become mostly cold and distant, though he did let a bit of his true self show when he talked to Naruto in public and when they were alone, he was pretty much the old Sasuke, but with a new drive. He was focused solely on Naruto and his training.

Naruto had barely changed. He mostly just acted a bit more maturely. In any case, these changes caused the fangirls to swoon harder over both, as they seemed a lot more attractive than before.

One day, when the two arrived in class, a certain someone was missing. According to Iruka-sensei, it was Ino, who was out sick. Naruto vaguely remembered something about her being the best friend of his crush, Sakura Haruno.

After the day at the academy was finished, Naruto told Sasuke that they should do some lighter training today and get together with Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba. It still involved training, so Sasuke was up for it. The two split up to go gather their friends. On the way to the Nara compound, Naruto encountered a group of kids. They were surrounding something. No, it was a person. Naruto rushed in and without thinking, he fought off the bullies. All that taijutsu practice with Itachi had really paid off. But when all the bullies rushed him at once, he knew taijutsu wouldn't be enough. He gathered up a bit of chakra and released it as a short-range gale force wind. The bullies were all blown back. They didn't come back. Now that there was no noise, Naruto could hear a soft sniffle. He turned toward the source of the sound.

"Sakura-chan?"

She looked up at him from her spot on the ground. "Oh, it's you."

"Are you okay?" he said.

She turned her back to him. "I'm fine." 

"Are you sure? You sound hurt. Did those thugs say something bad to you? Look, you can tell me." When she didn't reply, he said, "Oh, it must be about your forehead."

"Shut up!" she snapped.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. I actually like your forehead. To be honest, I think it looks pretty on you."

She blushed slightly at the compliment. "Anyway," said Naruto, "I'm gonna go train with some friends. Wanna come with?"

"Wouldn't I be getting in your way or something?"

"Nah, it's cool," said Naruto. "Besides," he took a moment here to grin smugly, "Sasuke's gonna be there."

She turned red. "Shut up, baka!"


	4. Chapter 2, Part 2: Another Perspective

Tensions were continuing to build between the Uchiha and the rest of the village. Despite the clan's change of heart, people still accused them of treachery. Some even went so far as to say that the clan was weaponizing Naruto with the Sharingan.

Itachi and Shisui did not like where this was going. They both agreed that something had to be done. They figured that it would even do just to relocate and take the clan outside the village. Little did they know, such plans were also taking shape elsewhere…

Danzo was not very happy about what the Uchiha were doing. He _really_ wanted to kill them. Itachi or Shisui would have been great for the job, but now even they had sided with their kin. Danzo was one day approached by a man. The man wore an orange mask that revealed only his right eye. He offered to help Danzo do what he wanted to do. Danzo didn't really have many options, so he figured that would do. The man didn't even want anything in return.

Timeskip

Shisui had begun to act very distraught. His act of being suicidal was very convincing. Soon, he faked his own death by pretending to commit suicide. Itachi knew things were going to go south fast after this, so he carried out the rest of the plan the next day. Unfortunately, this was the same day the masked man had planned to carry out Danzo's orders (but fortunately, Naruto and Sasuke were off practicing late as always). The man had arrived shortly before Itachi, and he had already begun murdering the Uchiha. Itachi ditched his plan and followed the man's trail, but he was always a step behind. _If I can't save everyone that remains, I'll just have to at least make sure mother and father are fine_.

Itachi reached his parents just as the masked man had reached them. He defected the man's knife, and proceeded to attack him, the Sharingan blazing to life in his eyes. Itachi also begun to make subtle clicks with his tongue and also tried to maintain eye contact with the man. It had worked! The man had been distracted by the eye contact and fallen into Itachi's genjutsu! The man threw a shuriken at Itachi's parents, but Itachi was in the way. The man used **kage bunshin no jutsu** to duplicate it. Itachi deflected all the shuriken but made sure to be slow enough to allow the man to slice through the dummies while under the genjutsu. The man shunshined away, and Naruto and Sasuke came to Itachi. Itachi placed them under the genjutsu through eye contact, and they saw Mikoto and Fugaku dead. Itachi talked them into thinking he was behind it and made them hate him. Then, he fled the scene. He watched from the shadows until the funeral day. Some inside men who had known about the master plan took the dummies of Mikoto and Fugaku and put them in place for the funeral along with all the real bodies. Itachi had some fragrance sprayed into the air. With this, he placed all the people into the same genjutsu, and dispelled it once they were buried and everything was done.

Months later, in a café near a faraway village called Yugakure

Itachi was sitting at a table, waiting for someone. He was sipping slowly from a cup of tea.

About a minute later, she walked in. The person he had been waiting for. She had hair that was almost the color of honey that flowed down to her waist, and beautiful violet eyes. She was about half an inch shorter than Itachi. Her body had near-ideal proportions, and she had a slim form. Her eyes sparkled for an instant when she saw him.

"Hey. Long time no see! What's with the scratch through your protector? And how have you been?"

Itachi sighed. "To answer your first question, it's a long story. Secondly, I've been good. How's your bijuu training been?"

"Surprisingly good, actually! I'm just trying to fully adjust to her now. I just managed to gain total control over the fourth tail. Anyway, let's get back to business."

Itachi smirked and nodded. "The Third gave me a report recently of what's been going on in Konoha. Here, I made you a copy. I'll be sending you copies of future reports by crow, so don't expect to meet me again for a while after this." 

Concern showed in her eyes. "Is Sasuke okay? What about my br-"

"Naruto's fine and so is Sasuke. There are more details in the report."

She took the report from him and read it. She gasped at some of the things written in it and hung her head in shame. She even shed a tear or two. "Oh, Naruto. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you. I swear I'll make it up to you when our paths finally cross."


	5. Chapter 3: Team 7 - Origin

Naruto has already passed the Genin exams the same way he did in the anime

"Sasuke, get up!" Naruto was shaking his brother so they could go to the Academy for their last day. It was no use. He was sleeping like a baby. Naruto suddenly got a naughty grin on his face. He supposed this would be okay since he was just practicing what Asuma had taught him. Forming two handseals, he gathered wind chakra in his palm, making a ball of pressurized air.

"Wind Release: Exploding Wind Sphere!" He slammed his hand into Sasuke's gut, right on the solar plexus. He awoke instantly, coughing and spluttering.

"Looks like you finally decided to wake up," said Naruto with a smirk.

Sasuke was still too busy coughing and catching his breath to reply. Then, between coughs: "Shut it, you stupid dobe."

"Get moving or we'll be late for Genin orientation!"

Sasuke mentally cursed himself as he rushed to get ready.

At the Academy

Iruka-sensei had dismissed everyone, but told Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to remain in the classroom, as their Jonin leader would arrive shortly. He shunshined away.

Kakashi arrived about 30 minutes later, and by then all three of them were already half asleep.

"Wakey, wakey," said Kakashi in a funny singsong voice.

"Took you long enough!" yelled Naruto and Sakura.

"Follow me to the training ground," replied Kakashi, completely ignoring what the two had said.

Kakashi explains the rules for the bell test

"Okay, you can start when I say so."

Naruto and Sasuke had their guard up at this point.

"GO!"

Naruto and Sasuke disappeared. Sakura just looked around, wondering where they had disappeared to. Then, a while later, Naruto appeared and grabbed her, going back to wherever he came from. Kakashi simply pulled out his Icha Icha book and began reading.

Naruto reappeared with Sakura and a slight bruise on his arm from where he was punched. Sasuke snickered at this. The brothers made eye contact.

_Why did you bring _her_ here?_ Inquired Sasuke.

_There are only _two bells_. It's obviously a team exercise you stupid teme. Besides, how can we have a 2 man Genin team?_

_Can't we just get the bells for ourselves and ditch the girl?_

_No. It's a _T-E-A-M E-X-E-R-C-I-S-E_. This is the only way. If you can't do this, you can kiss revenge goodbye._

_Ugh, fine._

That whole conversation lasted about two seconds. They shifted their attention to Sakura. "So," began Sasuke, "this is a teamwork exercise, Sakura. That means we have to work together."

She nodded enthusiastically, trying to hide the building heat she felt in her face from looking at _Sasuke-kun_.

"That means that we have to distract Kakashi. We'll hold him off while you sneak up and grab the bells. You're pretty good at chakra control, right? You can just conceal yourself."

Sakura was a little pissed that Naruto was talking like he was so smart, but since he had been nice to her when the bullies were around, she decided to push the annoyance to the back of her mind for now. Besides, she was with _Sasuke-kun_!

Kakashi had heard them discussing this. He felt amused, to be honest. _Huh, I didn't expect both of them to already have realized that a head on attack wasn't going to work. Maybe they might just pull it off after all. Maybe he'll turn out to be a prodigy just like you were… Sensei._

Flashback to a past training session with Naruto and Asuma

"Naruto," called Asuma. "I think you're doing great with that jutsu. You're pretty good with wind-style, you know. I wanna teach you somethin'. Come here. Let's have a little spar, taijutsu only. You gotta be able to hold your own in hand to hand combat, ya know. Oh yeah, I also wanted to give you these." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a new pair of custom-made chakra blades built to match the shape of Naruto's hands. They were also made to grow with his hands. "I want you to use these regularly so they keep adjusting. I'll teach you how they work."

Naruto looked at the blades. "Whoa," he said, amazed. "These are so cool, Asuma-san! Now I can be a badass brawler like you!"

Asuma chuckled. "Don't get ahead of yourself," he warned. "Now channel some chakra through those blades and come at me. Lemme show you just how much better you need to be."

Needless to say, Naruto was destroyed. Asuma blocked his first slash and flicked his wrist forward, releasing a burst of chakra so refined that Naruto was disarmed and knocked down.

Months of practice later, Naruto was starting to become a real monster with those blades. All he needed was better chakra control.

Present

A cloud of smoke appeared in the corner of Kakashi's field of view. Naruto appeared in the cloud, charging straight at Kakashi. He pumped chakra through his blades and took a swing at Kakashi. Kakashi swiftly blocked by pulling out a kunai, but Naruto had pumped too much chakra into the blade so there was a small explosion of wind that sent him flying. Then there was a pop and another cloud of smoke, and he was gone. It was a clone. There was suddenly more smoke. Four Narutos charged at Kakashi with their chakra blades. He fought them off one by one with his kunai, and dispelled the third one with One Thousand Years of Death. As he moved to attack the last one, he heard the weaving of hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Kakashi dispelled the last clone and moved to dodge the attack. He barely noticed Naruto coming in to slash at the ropes holding the bells to Kakashi, and barely deflected the chakra blade. A more focused, but still largely uncontrolled blast of air issued from the point of impact. Kakashi made sure to readjust the bells to stay on the hook as he moved away from the blast. The Naruto clone dispelled, creating a smoke cloud that blotted out most of Kakashi's field of view. The real one was standing just off to the side. He looked at Sasuke and mouthed some words. Sasuke reached for a shuriken in response. It was a bigger shuriken than normal, and cast a noticeably big shadow, too.

"Wind Demon Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!"

Kakashi dodged the shuriken with ease; it was poorly aimed. He didn't have much time to waste, though, as Naruto and Sasuke were rushing him again. They pushed him back toward the tree the shuriken had hit. Naruto slashed the air with too much chakra again, pushing Kakashi back. He jumped back, trying to vault off the tree directly behind him. But just as his feet left the ground, he felt a tug on his belt. He looked down to see the source of the tug.

"Shannaro!" exclaimed Sakura as she jumped up to hook her fingers around the bells. Kakashi mentally slapped himself for not anticipating that.

"So…" he began. "Aren't you gonna fight over who gets to pass?"

The team stared at him blankly. "What do you mean?" they asked in unison. "It has to be all of us or none of us, right?"

Kakashi was truly surprised. _Which one of them could it have been?_ He wondered. _Who figured it out?_ _Ah well, in any case…_ "Yeah, yeah, you pass. Happy?"

"Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto suddenly. "Can we go get ramen? Canwecanwecanwecanwecanwe?"

"I kinda just wanna go home," replied Kakashi. "Maybe some other time." He shunshined away.

Sasuke and Sakura suddenly felt eyes on them. They turned to face the gaze of an eager Naruto. Sasuke smirked. "Alright dobe, just this once."

"You wanna come too, Sakura-chan?"

"…sure."


	6. Chapter 4: Mission in the Land of Waves

A few months after Team 7 came together

Team 7 was in the Hokage's office. He was just about to assign them _yet another D-rank mission_.

Naruto groaned and the annoyance was clearly visible on Sasuke's face.

"Aw, come on old man! Can't we move up to a C-rank alreadyyyyyy? You're killing me here jiji-san!"

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I think we're ready for a C-rank," managed Sasuke, trying his darndest to be polite.

Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered this for a while. He looked through a stack of papers briefly, and found what he was looking for.

"Seems you're in luck. I just managed to find you this C-rank." He paused for a moment, and called an ANBU to summon the client.

"Your mission is to escort this bridge-builder to the Land of Waves."

On the road

Kakashi suddenly noticed a puddle on the ground. He moved on. Naruto, out of curiosity, looked where Kakashi had been looking. He suddenly felt an uneasy feeling in his gut, so he psyched himself up in case the feeling was correct.

Out of nowhere, two chains with shuriken on them slashed Kakashi's head off. Sakura gasped in shock, while Naruto and Sasuke pulled out their weapons.

"Sakura! Defend Tazuna-san!" ordered Naruto, giving her a serious stare.

She nodded, too shocked to speak.

Naruto and Sasuke each took on one of the assailants. Sasuke battled one with his kunai, and Naruto was swinging his chakra blades at the other.

A pair of shadow clones attacked the second suddenly, making him flinch. Naruto took the opportunity to finish him off.

"Wind Style: Exploding Wind Sphere!"

The ninja coughed up blood and fainted.

Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke. The attacker that Sasuke had taken on was stronger than the first, and he was beginning to edge Sasuke out. Suddenly, a kunai slashed his shoulder and he was chopped in the back of the neck, knocking him out.

Kakashi tied them up and had a talk with Tazuna. After the two ninja woke up, they were interrogated. That was when they revealed that Zabuza Momochi, a very powerful shinobi, would come after them next, and Tazuna revealed that this was really an A-rank mission but he could only afford a C-rank mission.

Timeskip because writing anything in between would be too troublesome, and also I'm tryna speed things along a little to get to the spicy stuff in Shippuden; besides the stuff I'm skipping was basically gonna be a copy of the canon

Tazuna and his men had started work on the bridge. Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi were on patrol with the help of some shadow clones, courtesy of Naruto. Sakura was watching over Tazuna with a shadow clone to assist in case of a fight.

The men were not looking too happy, so Tazuna opened his mouth to declare a lunch break, when the air suddenly started to become misty. Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi had already sensed the chakra of Zabuza, so they were the first to draw a weapon. Sakura followed suit when the shadow clone pulled out his chakra blades and activated both.

Within seconds, Kakashi found himself deflecting slashes from Zabuza's Executioner's Blade, while Naruto and Sasuke were kept busy by Haku.

Haku had to end the fight, so he activated his "Ultimate Jutsu", which Zabuza told everyone was a Kekkei Genkai. Naruto and Sasuke were suddenly surrounded by ice mirrors. They quickly realized it was futile to try and escape because it was impossible to break the mirrors. Haku began throwing needles at them to get the job over with. The situation looked hopeless for the two brothers.

"Naruto," said Sasuke. "I think I have a plan. Our enemy seems to be able to move quickly, but maybe if we use a diversion, we can get him."

Haku threw another barrage of needles. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other mid-dodge, and Sasuke nodded subtly. Naruto took the cue and made a shadow clone, hiding himself in the resulting smoke. The shadow clone tried to hit the mirror with an Exploding Wind Sphere, but Haku simply leaped out of the mirror and stabbed the clone with a needle.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Haku barely dodged the flames, though his left arm was burned. He threw needles as he sank back into a mirror.

"One more!" said Sasuke.

They repeated the process.

"One more!"

Haku anticipated Naruto's movements this time, so he moved mirrors and hit Naruto with a barrage of needles in several pressure points. This put Naruto in great pain and also hampered his movements.

"Naruto!" Sasuke grabbed him and set him down gently. "We need to get these needles out of you!"

Naruto was already blacking out from the pain. "Sasuke… I'm gonna pass out. I… don't think I can help you out here…" he mumbled the last part as he passed out.

Haku had just shot out of a mirror to finish Naruto off.

_NO! I can't let him die! Not like this! We still have to get Itachi!_

Sasuke suddenly noticed that Haku's movements were easily readable and everything seemed to be moving a bit slower. He wasted no time weaving hand signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The attack hit Haku, but there was suddenly nothing there. Right as the fire hit, Haku moved back into a mirror and left a mirage in his place. He looked at Sasuke closely. _Sh*t, he has the Sharingan. I gotta finish him off quickly, because he seems to have just awakened it and that means he hasn't fully adjusted to it yet._ Haku started attacking Sasuke like his life depended on it. Even though Sasuke had Sharingan, Haku was edging him out (for now).

Within a few minutes, the pain the needles were causing Naruto had subsided, and he had come to a while ago when the pain had stopped being so bad. He saw Sasuke slowly losing the fight but couldn't do much about it due to the needles; they were still making it difficult for him to move. Fighting the pain, he pulled the needles out of his arms. _I have to help Sasuke or he's gonna die! _The gap between Sasuke and Haku was widening as Sasuke was taking hit after hit. He was bleeding now. He seemed too tired to fight on.

It was at this point that something stirred inside Naruto. The thought of his brother dying was pushing him over the edge. Slowly but surely, red chakra began to leak out from his stomach. It encircled him. He felt anger taking hold.

Seeing what was happening, Haku was going even faster now so he didn't have to fight both of them at once. But he was too slow. Naruto was already under the Kyuubi's influence. Channeling every ounce of anger he had into his movements, he smashed one ice mirror after another with the help of the Kyuubi's chakra, and repelled all of Haku's attacks with a roar. Haku was quickly overpowered. But Naruto had spent too much stamina on his onslaught, so now he had neither the desire nor the energy to finish off Haku. Haku promptly disappeared.

Kakashi was fighting on par with Zabuza, but he realized that he had to end this. Based on what Zabuza had said about Haku, he had to finish him quick so he could check on Naruto and Sasuke. He created a shadow clone to help him fight Zabuza, and then gathered chakra in his hand.

"Chidori!" he said as the chakra began to take on the shape of a lightning blade. He rushed toward Zabuza, taking him by surprise, and thrust the Chidori forward. There was a huge splash of blood, and when it all fell down on the ground, Kakashi saw Haku and his hand was through Haku's chest. Haku coughed a few times, then started to go limp. Kakashi removed his hand and Haku fell to the ground, dead.

Timeskip to after the mission because we all know what happened next

Naruto was more tired than usual on the way back home. When they arrived at the Konoha gates, he passed out.

"Naruto!" said Sasuke. He looked up at Kakashi, asking permission to head straight to the hospital with him. Kakashi told him to hurry.

Naruto gets admitted and Kakashi alerted the Hokage so Naruto has a medic who won't kill him

The medic-nin examined him.

"What happened?" asked Sasuke, apparently freaking out.

The medic looked worried. "It's a good thing you brought him when you did. He was suffering from slow internal bleeding due to several punctures within his body. He also suffered from chakra exhaustion because some of his tenketsu are damaged. He needs blood. Do you know anyone with a compatible blood type?"

"Yeah, me."

"Good. You'll also need to pump in a small amount of chakra."

About a pint of blood was taken from Sasuke, with small amounts of chakra infused in it. Naruto was given the blood and the medic helped patch up his internal injuries.

Timeskip (again, sorry for the trash writing but please bear with me because I'll get to Part 2/Shippuden in 3 chapters max and that's where the story really starts to deviate from canon and unfold)

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were waiting for Kakashi; he was late as always, even today, when he said he had something big to tell them.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late; I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life again."

"LIAR!" shouted Naruto and Sakura.

Kakashi ignored them and got straight to the point. "I don't want to waste anymore of your time, so here it is: I recommended all of you for the Chuunin Exams. Here are some permission slips. Keep in mind that all three of you need to sign up to take part, as this exam requires all participants to be in teams of three."

Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads toward Sakura, who sweatdropped. Naruto's gaze softened a little. "Look Sakura, don't worry about it. You need to decide this for yourself. We get it if you don't wanna take the exam. I won't hold that against you."

Sasuke was in this to test his strength, but he knew there were other ways, so he figured it wouldn't kill him not to participate, but it sure would be a big plus.

The next day, it had become official that Team 7 was participating in the Genin Exams.


	7. Chapter 5: The Search for Tsunade (P1)

**I was going to write the Chuunin Exams and the Konoha Crush but I realized I wasn't going to make it deviate from the canon too much, so I'm timeskipping over them. As in the canon, The Third Hokage died and Naruto has rejoined Jiraiya to train and search for Tsunade so they can get a Fifth Hokage. I'm also getting to here because this is where Akatsuki and the kunoichi from the end of Chapter 2.5 really start to become part of the main story.**

Sometime after the Konoha Crush, about three days before Naruto and Jiraiya leave to search for Tsunade

"Thanks for meeting me here," said Itachi. "I've been watching Jiraiya and Naruto, and I've just found out that the Third Hokage died in battle."

"The old man died? That's terrible! But why would Naruto and Ero-Sennin be travelling? And why the hell would Ero-Sennin take Naruto? Doesn't he know full well what the Akatsuki intend to do? Knowing him, he'll lose track of Naruto while trying to seduce a woman and, well, you know what happens next," said the kunoichi. She wore a cloak and had a hood over her head. The cloak had the kanji for peace on it, read "Heiwa" (hey-wah), on the back in red and in big print. The cloak was black. However, the violet of her eyes was unmistakable.

Itachi spoke again. "That is exactly what I feared, which is why I've convinced the Akatsuki to let me and Kisame go after Naruto. The issue will be Kisame. That's why I asked to talk to you, Minako. I need your help to distract Kisame or put him out of commission for a while. If Jiraiya happens to be there, I need you to knock him unconscious too. Knowing Sasuke, he will rush there to protect Naruto. And I can use that to talk to them. I have some things to tell them. So, can you do it?"

"Consider it done, Itachi-kun!" replied Minako, flashing him a smile.

Itachi smiled back, and it was a genuine one. "Will you follow Kisame and me from the start? When we finally get to Naruto, I'll give you a signal by emitting a weak pulse of chakra."

Minako nodded. "All right then, I guess we're done here. Farewell for now."

Itachi turned to leave.

"Oh, and Itachi?"

"Yeah?"

"Since the Akatsuki are planning to set everything in motion for real in about three years, we _have_ to get ready to make our move too. Maybe after we've put all that behind us, we can finally return to Konoha, and… settle down…" Her voice grew wistful while saying that last sentence, and she murmured the last two words almost longingly.

"Right. By the way, I think you should come back to the Akatsuki soon. I get the feeling Pain will suspect something's up and have someone that isn't me search for you. You really don't want to get caught doing something they don't like. Plus, if Pain replaces Kisame with you, it'll be easier for us to spy and send info back to Konoha." _Besides_, Itachi thought to himself, _I would never admit it, but I kind of miss having you around… _he smiled a little at that thought.

"I will, but I have some other training to finish too. I have to be a _lot_ stronger when we finally begin the crackdown on the Akatsuki." _Goodbye for now, old friend._

Back to the present

Naruto and Jiraiya had just checked into the hotel. Jiraiya had already gone off to some club to flirt with women, so Naruto just stayed in their room, practicing the Rasengan with Shadow Clones.

In the middle of the afternoon, he heard a knock on the door. He opened it, and jumped back immediately, chakra blades drawn and active.

"Itachi-nii." Naruto's voice was thick with venom.

"Naruto," remarked the other.

Meanwhile

Sasuke was running for the place where he had heard Naruto was going. Based on what Kakashi had told him, things were not going to go well where Naruto was. Unbeknownst to him, Kakashi had told Might Gai to follow Sasuke for his safety.

_Why would Itachi go for Naruto?_ wondered Sasuke. _What if he just wants to steal Naruto and turn him over to his side? There's no way I'm gonna let that bastard take my only remaining brother away from me! _

Near the hotel

Minako was tailing Itachi more closely now that he had given her the signal. Since Itachi had activated his Sharingan at the same time and Kisame saw this, he had nothing to suspect.

_Rise and shine, Snow White. I'm dragging you into a battle and I'm gonna need some of your power,_ said Minako in a mocking tone.

Somewhere inside Minako's body, a wolf snorted, amused. _Whatever you say._

Minako's eyes shifted from their usual violet color to a lustrous silvery shade with vertical slits for pupils and a shiny golden outline around the irises as she entered her Tailed Beast Mode. She donned a mask to hide her eyes from Kisame, and she also wore the same cloak from before with the kanji for Heiwa written on it.

With Itachi and Naruto

"So tell me, Naruto," said Itachi, "have you allowed your hatred to fester? Have you drawn on its power to become stronger?"

"I can't say I don't hate you for what you've done," he replied, "But I do know that I don't necessarily want to kill you, and that for the sake of the Uchiha, Sasuke and I must make you pay for what you did!"

Itachi smirked at him. Inwardly, Itachi was impressed that Naruto was not swayed by his hated. But regardless, he had to keep up the façade.

Itachi moved behind Naruto with great speed and kicked him out into the hallway. Naruto quickly recovered and had his guard up again, with his back to the wall. "Now show me your power. Show me how strong you have become," ordered Itachi.

Naruto began to focus chakra into his blades, but he felt something coming his way and dodged a huge blade with spikes all over it just in the nick of time. Naruto's eyes traced the blade, which was now stuck in the floor, from its tip to the arm that held it. He found himself looking into the eyes of Kisame. Panic began to flood him. He already knew that Itachi was way stronger than him but this second guy would more than guarantee his death. Kisame rushed Naruto again, but this time, he was stopped by adamantine chains. The chains wrapped around Itachi, too.

"Kisame Hoshigaki. Ignore the Nine-Tails and your partner. _Your _fight is with _me_," said a new voice. It was definitely feminine, but a bit on the deep side for a woman. (This is Minako, but she's in Tailed Beast Mode and she has mixed a modified version of her Tailed Beast with her own voice. You can imagine the Tailed Beast's voice to be the same as Erza's from Fairy Tail, aka Colleen Clinkenbeard, and Minako's current voice as a deeper version of that [but that's just how I imagined it so you can just make it whatever you want]).

All eyes turned to the source of the voice. The kunoichi reeled Kisame in and jumped out of the building. The chains on Itachi disappeared.

With Minako and Kisame

Minako gave the chains a firm swing, and slammed Kisame into the ground. "First things first, I'll be taking that sword of yours."

Kisame's blade responded by extending a spike at Minako. She dodged the spike without much effort. Then, she used some of her natural speed to get next to Kisame's head and knock him out before he could pull any more weird sh*t with that sword of his. Besides, he had almost gotten the blade to start absorbing the chakra from her chains. _I really need to get in some practice with these chains,_ mused Minako. _If he had absorbed my chakra just now, I might have become a target for the Akatsuki. Thank Kami that didn't happen. I really need to be a bit more careful._ She dispelled the chains and retreated into the shadows.

With Itachi and Naruto

Itachi was effortlessly dodging all of Naruto's attacks with his Sharingan. But he was almost hit by the next surprise attack.

"Itachiiiiiii! I'm gonna kill you!" Itachi almost didn't react to the chidori as it approached him. But he still dodged it. Sasuke flew through the air before falling to the ground.

"Sasuke!" exclaimed Naruto, both happy and alarmed to see his brother.

The two boys charged at Itachi with everything they had. Itachi effortlessly dodged everything they threw at him. Itachi then snapped his fingers, casting a genjutsu through the sound of them.

When Naruto and Sasuke realized what was happening, it was already too late.

"That's quite enough," boomed a disembodied version of Itachi's voice. A pair of Mangekyou Sharingan and a shadowy silhouette appeared in the sky, which was blood red. "You're both pathetic. Sasuke, you don't have enough hatred. Your weakness disgusts me. And Naruto, you're even worse. If you really want to make me pay for what I did, you cannot cling to your naïve ideals. You will achieve nothing in the shinobi world. Forget about being Hokage." Itachi released the genjutsu. "What a waste of time. Ah well, I'll be taking you now, Naruto."

Sasuke responded by forming another Chidori.

"Sasuke, no!"

Itachi grabbed him by the neck this time and pinned him against the wall. Sasuke's Chidori had drained too much chakra, and he was too fatigued to fight back now. For the moment, Itachi decided to place him under a genjutsu that would leave him knocked out for a while.

Sasuke was plunged into a loop of the Uchiha Massacre.

Naruto jumped into action. He made a shadow clone to form the Rasengan. It actually worked this time! Shifting his undivided attention to Itachi, he noticed that things were moving a bit slower, and everything was also clearer and sharper. Unbeknownst to Naruto, his irises had changed (they look like Sasuke's Mangekyou, but these eyes are actually something entirely different from the Sharingan).

He saw Itachi moving to dodge and counterattack, but he had no idea what to do. The information was just flooding in too quickly… he wouldn't be able to adjust. He knew full well Itachi's fist was coming straight for his gut, but he couldn't do anything. He was knocked back.

Conveniently for the young genin, Jiraiya decided to show up right around then.

"Itachi Uchiha," he said with narrowed eyes.

"Jiraiya," replied Itachi, rather flatly.

_This is bad,_ he thought. _Minako might still be busy with Kisame. I _really _do not want to fight Jiraiya._ Itachi decided it would be best to retreat. He quickly escaped the building by burning a hole in the wall with Fireball Jutsu. "I have wasted enough time with these annoying brats. I must be going now." Itachi found a high vantage point, and activated his Sharingan, scanning the area for any sign of Minako or Kisame. He saw Minako's chakra receding and a smaller signature belonging to Kisame. Thanking Minako mentally, he hurried to Kisame, slung him over his shoulder, and proceeded to stealth his way back to the nearest Akatsuki hideout.

Jiraiya turned his attention to Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke was unconscious, and there was a sheen of sweat on his face. Sensing a disturbance in his pathways, Jiraiya funneled some chakra into him, breaking the genjutsu._ This is bad, _thought Jiraiya. _I need to get medical attention. For all I know, he might even have brain damage._

Naruto seemed to be alright, but just to be safe, Jiraiya thought it would be best to send Naruto to a local hospital and send Sasuke back to Konoha. He sent word for someone to escort Sasuke back to the village. Luckily, Gai was already on the way, and since he was tailing Sasuke closely, it was just a matter of minutes.

Timeskip

Gai had taken Sasuke and gone back. Jiraiya _had_ to find Tsunade soon, before things got even worse…

**A/N So hopefully this chapter is at least a bit better than what you've been reading so far. And about that, I'm sorry for having done such a poor job with the starting chapters. Every chapter counts in a story. Which is why I'm going to rewrite/improve some of the previous chapters to elaborate on exactly what Naruto and Sasuke's childhood was like. Sorry for my negligence, I was eager to get to fully introducing Minako and her backstory, but I really need to improve the previous chapters. Peace!**


	8. Chapter 6: The Search For Tsunade (P2)

"… I hope you understand what I'm offering you, my old friend Tsunade. I will give you a week to consider, but you _must_ have your answer by then."

The man, Orochimaru, left with Kabuto in tow. Tsunade was so conflicted. She had absolutely no idea what to do. The prospect of seeing the two men she cared about most, her lover and her brother, made her heart ache _so bad._ But was it truly worth it? To give Orochimaru his arsenal of jutsu back would be the same as forsaking the dreams of the men she held closest to her heart. Ah, Tsunade could really go for some sake right now…

Shizune's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Milady!" Shizune had finally found Tsunade. "What happened?" She looked around at all the destruction, alarmed.

A tick appeared on Tsunade's forehead. Sometimes, she truly hated how overprotective Shizune could act. It could be so annoying. "I don't wanna talk about it… let's just go to the local bar and get something to eat. I could eat a horse right now." And so Tsunade began to drown her sorrows in alcohol once again.

A few minutes later

"HURRY UP, NARUTO!" shouted a very annoyed Jiraiya.

"Gimme a break, Ero-Sennin! I'm so hungryyyyyy!" Naruto, of course, was just as fed up of his sensei as he was of him.

They arrived at the place where Tsunade had been talking to Orochimaru, only to find a bit of rubble. Jiraiya cursed under his breath.

"This is all your fault! If you had been faster, I would've found her!"

"You pervert! Who the hell gave you the authority to stalk a woman and call it a mission?"

"This one's a special woman, Naruto! You'll understand when you meet her, okay? You know what, forget it. I'm tired. Let's just go somewhere and get dinner, then crash for the night."

Mini timeskip

Jiraiya and Naruto walked into the bar, and Jiraiya immediately spotted Shizune and a drunk Tsunade. He quickly grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him over to the table.

"What the hell was that for, Ero-Sennin?" said Naruto.

Jiraiya ignored him for now. "So, we meet again… Tsunade."

Naruto studied her figure with narrowed eyes. "Ero-Sennin, I still don't see what's so special about her. I think you've been chasing her for the same reason you peep at other women."

"Shut up!" hissed Jiraiya.

Tsunade put down her sake cup and acknowledged Jiraiya. Then, she grabbed the cup again and drained it.

"WAITER! GET ME A REFILL!" Then, literally a millisecond later: "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE SERVICE HERE!"

Jiraiya chuckled softly. Tsunade shot him a glare with her eyes narrowed. That shut the man up. He even put up his poker face as if nothing had happened. She turned the glare at Naruto. "And who's this brat?"

A tick appeared on his forehead. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it! And I'll become Hokage one day!"

Tsunade contemplated this. _Naruto Uzumaki, huh. So this is the Yellow Flash's second kid and the Nine-Tails' Jinchuuriki. I wonder where their firstborn could be right now…_

In a far-off land, at a dango stand (hey, that rhymes!), a certain kunoichi sneezed and Itachi said "bless you", almost reflexively. [Terrible humor, I know]

"Tsunade," interrupted Jiraiya. "I've been looking for you for a while now. I came here to tell you… that Konoha needs a new Hokage. You've been appointed as the Godaime."

Naruto was about to pounce on the two for totally ignoring him, but at the mention of this, he choked on his water.

"WHAT!"

"Keep it down, Naruto!" hissed Jiraiya. "Anyways, we really need you back, Tsunade. Please, co-"

"No. I refuse."

"We need a new Hokage. Sarutobi-Sensei is _dead_."

"Jiraiya, no means no."

Naruto butted in. He jumped up on the table and leaned in Tsunade's face. "What the hell, old lady! (a tick appeared on Tsunade's head) Don't you know how big that is?"

Tsunade headbutted him with a bit of chakra. He was really pushing her buttons here. "You shut up! Talking about Hokage like you're so high and mighty. You don't know anything!"

The manager came to the table at this point. Tsunade and Naruto found themselves outside.

Tsunade got a tick on her forehead again. "Look what you've done, you brat! I just wanted a good cup of sake!"

"Shut up, you grandma," he replied. The tick grew. "You're the one who rejected the position of Hokage!"

"You wanna fight?" Tsunade balled one hand into a fist, which began to glow with chakra.

"I'll destroy you, old lady!"

Tsunade scoffed. "Tell you what, I'll only use a finger to drive you into the ground!"

Naruto charged at her with his chakra blades drawn. Tsunade sidestepped him, hooked her finger through his forehead protector, and pulled him back. He fell to the ground. Having vented her anger, Tsunade was finally thinking more rationally. "Hey brat," she began, "why are you so touchy about Hokage anyway?"

Naruto softened when he realized it was a genuine question. "Because that is my dream. To become the greatest Hokage and solve people's problems."

Tsunade was taken aback by how the words rolled off his tongue. A tear threatened to fall down her face as she was reminded of her brother, Nawaki, and her lover, Dan. In their day, both had dreamed of the very thing Naruto had just uttered.

As Tsunade was lost in her reverie, she vaguely noticed a spiraling ball of chakra.

"Rasengan!"

She simply made a chakra needle and popped the Rasengan. Then, without thinking, she pulled the boy in and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. Then, she stepped back, reached into her robes, and pulled up a necklace.

"Your Rasengan is terrible. But you know what? I wanna make a bet with you. If you can master the Rasengan in, say, 2 weeks, I'll give you this necklace. It was my grandfather's."

"You're on, grandma! Watch me nail this in _one_!"

Tsunade smirked. _Bad luck or not, there's no way I can lose this bet._

Naruto worked diligently on his Rasengan. At one point, about three days in, he went off somewhere to a forest to practice on the trees and didn't come back until the night before the last day. That happened when Shizune finally found him passed out on the ground where he had been training the entire time. Most of the trees had been destroyed by Naruto at some point after he had mastered the Rasengan.

Shizune reached the room with an unconscious Naruto and managed to get him on the bed. Then she promptly went to her room to get some sleep.

The next morning, Shizune woke up to find that Tsunade was gone, Naruto was back to normal, and Jiraiya was not looking too good.

"What happened, Jiraiya-san?"

"Curze zat Zoonade," he slurred in response. "shee jugged my jink wen I wazent loookinngg… I cant conjole my jakra." ("Curse that Tsunade! She drugged my drink when I wasn't looking… I can't control my chakra.")

Shizune gasped in shock. "No… we have to go after her, Jiraiya!"

Naruto walked back into the room with a cup of ramen. "What's going on? Did something happen to Granny Tsunade?"

Shizune nodded.

Naruto was pissed. "Well, we have to go after her! She didn't even wait for the bet to be over!"

From another building, Kabuto watched this through the window. _Dammit,_ he thought, _I can't kill that lady. Oh well, at least it seems that Tsunade will fix Lord Orochimaru's arms. _He went back to report to Orochimaru.

Timeskip

"So, Tsunade, what do you say to my offer?"

Before Tsunade could say anything, a giant toad with Jiraiya on top appeared and attacked Orochimaru. Naruto jumped out and smashed Kabuto with his Rasengan.

Tsunade could only watch with wide eyes. _No way… he actually mastered it!_

But then, she remembered why she was here in the first place. "What the hell are you doing here!" she said, a tick on her forehead. "I didn't ask for you to butt in!"

"Tsunade, I can't let you betray Konoha. If you don't agree to help us, I _will _have to kill you. You need to get over Dan and Nawaki. They're _dead_."

Tsunade sighed. She knew Jiraiya was right, but her heart wouldn't stop yearning for that chance to see them again. But then her thoughts drifted to Naruto.

"I know what you're thinking, Tsunade. I bet that you realize their dreams live on in him."

Tsunade didn't know what to say. She was so conflicted. Where was the sake when she needed it most, dammit?

Naruto was trying to fight against Kabuto, but he had pushed him all the way back to where Tsunade was standing.

And it was here that the Talk No Jutsu's power began to shine once more. (haha)

"Granny Tsunade… did you see my Rasengan? I won the bet! Now gimme that necklace and accept the position of Hokage! Ero-Sennin told me about Nawaki and Dan. You have to do it, baa-chan! For them! What kind of person lets the dreams of their precious people die with them? Granny Tsunade, that's why I'll put my life on the line for you right here and right now! It's sad that I don't get to be the next Hokage after Old Man Sandaime, but until my time comes, I'm not gonna die, and you shouldn't throw your life away either!"

Tsunade was deeply moved by what Naruto said. Even though people like Naruto and Jiraiya could act stupid at times, she really was thankful that their kind existed to barge into the lives of others and show them the light.

She realized what she needed to do. Tsunade activated her Strength of a Hundred Seal. The markings began to creep down her skin. "Naruto, step aside!"

With incredible speed, Tsunade pummeled Kabuto and used medical ninjutsu to mess up his nervous system and switch around the results of various signals. Kabuto couldn't control himself. When he tried to get up, his hand would wiggle around instead. When he tried to do that, his right ankle would move. When he tried to do that, his other hand would slap him in the face.

As Tsunade took the time to heal Naruto (he had taken quite a few blows), Kabuto had managed to figure out which signal triggered which action. He got up and formed a scalpel-like thing as an extension of his dominant arm. He rushed Tsunade, and they exchanged a flurry of attacks until Kabuto used his chakra scalpel to temporarily disrupt/sever the connections between Tsunade's nerves and her muscles. Now, she was the one who couldn't move. Kabuto pulled out his kunai and moved in for the kill. But Naruto got in the way and stopped Kabuto's hand with his own when he tried to thrust it at Tsunade. Naruto's hand was cut badly, and blood seeped from the wound.

"Naruto, what are you doing? You have to let us handle this!"

Naruto scoffed. "As if you can do anything to protect yourself from this right now."

She sighed. He was being blunt, but he was very much correct.

Naruto pulled away from the knife and prepared to attack Kabuto again. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Kabuto swung his kunai around a bit and Naruto's blood flew into the eyes of the clones. Kabuto quickly took care of all of them. He moved in to attack Naruto but hit a log instead. Behind him, Naruto had formed another Rasengan with a Shadow Clone. He ran in to finish the job, but Kabuto dodged and used his chakra scalpel on Naruto's heart. Naruto forced extra chakra into the Rasengan, causing it to pop, and since Kabuto had barely dodged it, it had done considerable damage to him.

Naruto's vision suddenly started to go blurry and he felt his strength leaving him. In the meantime, Tsunade had managed to recover from the severed connections.

"I don't feel so good…" he said drowsily, before collapsing. Kabuto was busy trying to close the wound from the Rasengan, so Tsunade checked Naruto. His pulse was erratic. She began to worry that Dan and Nawaki's dreams would die with Naruto, so she tried to use her medical ninjutsu to fix it. Once she had verified that his pulse was okay, he started to stir. The recovery rate was absurd. Tsunade felt great relief then. And Naruto came to. "Baa-chan," he said. "I won the bet." Then he reached his hand out and mustered the energy to smirk. "That means… you give me that necklace." He grabbed its chain from the side of her neck, but wasn't quite well enough to lift it away from her just yet. Tsunade chuckled in a sad way, and took it off herself, putting it around Naruto's neck instead. She prayed that its third wearer would finally become a Hokage.

Kabuto had managed to finish quickly, and he was right behind Tsunade now, poised to strike. But this time, someone else stopped him. It was a masked kunoichi. When Naruto caught sight of her, he noticed that she had the same cloak as the person who had dragged Kisame away.

Some time ago, nearby

Minako could sense strong chakra signatures coming from somewhere. She recognized the chakra of Jiraiya and Orochimaru, and even Tsunade. Then, she sensed Naruto's chakra, but it was quite faint.

"No."

She rushed to the hotel and into her room, grabbed the Heiwa cloak and the mask, and ran toward the chakra signature. She cursed herself mentally for not having tried to put a Hiraishin formula on Naruto earlier.

Present

"Tsunade-san, thank you for tending to Naruto. I'll deal with Kabuto now."

Noting the chakra scalpel on Kabuto's arm, Minako called on the power of her tailed beast and formed a thick chakra cloak around herself._ This should be enough to stop it._

Under the mask, her eyes changed again and the chakra around her took on a silvery color. Kabuto charged at Minako and slashed her arm with the chakra scalpel, but it got stuck in her chakra cloak. Minako elbowed Kabuto in the gut with her other arm, sending him flying and making him cough blood.

Rushing through some hand seals, she moved to where Kabuto was and performed a barrier jutsu programmed to release on command. Then, she turned to Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

"You look like you need help," she stated plainly.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Jiraiya had finally stopped slurring everything he said, but he was nowhere near full strength just yet. Even summoning a toad big enough to do what had just been done had taken a lot out of him.

"You can send back the toad. Summoning Jutsu!"

A werewolf-like summon appeared. "Milady," he said politely, acknowledging Minako's presence. Minako had already relayed instructions to him, so he knew what to do. He grew in size until he was about a quarter of the height at which Orochimaru's snake currently towered.

The wolf quickly gathered natural energy and created a mass of senjutsu chakra, which he molded into a longsword. He slashed at the snake with the blade. The snake moved back a bit, avoiding the blade itself, but some of the senjutsu chakra forked out from the blade, and it cut deeply. The snake was bleeding profusely now. Orochimaru couldn't let his snake die just yet, because he had so many other things he still had to use him for. So, he sent the snake back. Minako released the barrier jutsu around Kabuto at that time. Kabuto had already come to, and he ran off with Orochimaru.

Everyone who remained turned to Minako. "We really are grateful for the help, but just who _are_ you?"

Minako's heart clenched. She wanted to tell all of them so badly, but now just wasn't the time. She took a shaky breath and composed herself. "That is irrelevant at the moment. I will reveal all in due time. That is, if you can find me."

She activated the Hiraishin Jutsu and teleported back to the room in which she was staying. She cursed herself for snapping under the pressure and not having faith in Naruto. But she didn't think she could take much more of this. She resolved to try and keep the intervention at a minimum from here on out but to always keep eyes on Naruto.

Back at the battlefield

Tsunade felt so liberated. The words that Naruto and Jiraiya had spoken to her had freed her heart of doubt and she could finally move on with her life. She finally relented and accepted the position of Godaime Hokage. The group had planned to stay in town for one more day, and then make their way to Konoha. And so they set off, bringing this chapter of the story to an end, and beginning the next.

_**That's a wrap. Hopefully this chapter is better than what I've written so far… Next time, we'll be taking a little break to delve into the life of Minako, starting with a profile that gives an overview of her identity and her abilities.**_

**Next chapter: Minako Namikaze – Profile.**

_**P.S.: I have quite a few exams to do now so I'll be out for a few weeks. The next time I update will likely be in May, if not earlier. **_


	9. Minako Namikaze - Profile

**This is a profile of Minako and her current abilities and status, as well as feats which will be covered in her backstory.**

Name: Minako Namikaze

* * *

A.K.A.:

Child of Prophecy (by Jiraiya)

Savior of this World (by the Heiwa Legion)

Uzukage (nickname given by some members of the Heiwa Legion)

Minako-hime (from her Academy days)

Mina-chan (from her Academy days)

The Wolf Sage

* * *

Current Age: 18 years old (same as Itachi; they are both six years older than their younger siblings)

* * *

Appearance:

Honey-colored hair (think blonde but a little darker / dirty blonde but a little lighter, or somewhere between golden and the color of a leaf in the fall)

Purple eyes (think amethyst)

Fair skin

About 1.79 meters tall (between 5'10 and 5'11)

Slim yet muscular figure; neither flat nor busty; hourglass figure and near-perfect proportions

Similar hairstyle to Kushina

* * *

Family:

Minato Namikaze (father, deceased)

Kushina Uzumaki (mother, deceased)

Naruto Uzumaki (younger brother)

* * *

Likes: the color gray, Itachi, Shisui, Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, Kakashi, Rin, Jiraiya, Uchiha Clan, Uzumaki Clan, Aia, Konoha, cloudy days, Mikoto, training, wolves, snow, ice, ramen, dango (just to name a few)

Personality: Calm and gentle. She doesn't get angry like Kushina and takes more after Minato when it comes to personality. She did inherit Kushina's soft side, though. She doesn't have a verbal tic like dattebayo. Sometimes she likes to tease her friends. She's also kind of insecure.

Dislikes: Akatsuki, Danzo, Itachi's "stupid" forehead pokes

* * *

Rank: Currently considered ANBU/elite jounin or higher; lower S-Rank or higher/Kage Level in Bingo Books

Classification: Jinchuuriki, Sage, Sensor Type

Official Status: Missing/presumed dead (according to Konoha)

* * *

Bingo Book Entry:

Age: unknown

Skill level: exact level unknown, but very dangerous. S-Rank/Kage Level

Gender: probably female

Jutsu: unknown

Affiliation: unknown

Bounty: Between 70 million and 150 million, depending on the bingo book

Orders: A-Rank Jounin and below are to flee on sight, or if/when the target's chakra is detected. S-Rank/Elite Jounin, if alone, are to flee or maintain distance. Having at least a team of 3 is strongly advised. Avoid close combat at all costs. Shunshin Experts highly recommended.

* * *

Affiliation:

Konoha

Uzushio

Heiwa Legion

* * *

Chakra Natures:

Wind (primary nature)

Fire (secondary nature)

Earth (mastered through training)

Water (mastered through training with the help of her tailed beast)

Lightning (mastered through training)

Scorch (kekkei genkai)

Ice (kekkei genkai from tailed beast)

Yin/Yang (mastered through training)

* * *

Kekkei Genkai:

Scorch Release

Ice Release (tailed beast)

* * *

Tailed Beast: Aia

Summon: Wolf

* * *

Some Jutsu that Minako knows:

Rasengan + nature transformation (she can apply other natures besides wind and can change chakra form as well, but she made her own jutsu instead of Rasenshuriken)

Hiraishin

Shadow Clone Jutsu

All basic Fire Style Jutsu of the Uchiha Clan (she was taught by Itachi and Shisui)

Adamantine Chains (but she can mold the chains into other weapons)

Various fuinjutsu

A special kata which relies on the adamantine chains

Tailed Beast Bomb

Tailed Beast Rasengan

Tailed Beast Chakra Mode and Tailed Beast Transformation

Sage Mode (not completely mastered at the moment)

* * *

Feats/Other Abilities:

Mastered the Hiraishin in under a year

Taught herself fuinjutsu

Restored Uzushiogakure

Sealed a tailed beast into herself and befriended it

Mastered the Rasengan in a week and learned to apply nature transformations to it within two weeks

Has the second-highest scores ever in the Academy after Minato and tied with Itachi

Graduated from the Academy at age 8, chuunin at age 9, recognized as high jounin level or more by the Heiwa Legion by age 15 (she left the village at a young age)

Possibly faster than Minato

* * *

Goals:

Kill Danzo and retrieve Shisui's other eye to return it to its rightful owner

Protect Naruto, Sasuke, and her friends

Stop/destroy the Akatsuki

Save the jinchuuriki

Return to Konoha

Become Hokage

Achieve world peace and an end to war

Save the Uchiha Clan from the Curse of Hatred

* * *

Other stuff:

Minako's favorite color is gray

She does not think highly of herself

She is in love with Itachi

She became a genin at the same time as Itachi and Shisui (in this AU, Shisui is the same age as Minako and Itachi) and the three of them would go on to be placed in the same genin team

* * *

Databook stats (at age 18, with estimated rank given):

Ninjutsu: 10/10 (upper S-Rank or higher)

Taijutsu: 8.5/10 (upper A-Rank or higher)

Genjutsu: 5/10 (mid to low B-Rank, but training with Aia has made her almost immune to genjutsu, except the Kotoamatsukami and the Tsukuyomi, which she is only resistant to)

Intelligence: 10/10 (S-Rank) [Battle IQ: 10/10]

Strength (Base): 6/10 (B-Rank)

Speed: 10/10 (S-Rank)

Stamina: 11/10 (upper S-Rank)

Hand Seals: 9/10 (upper A-Rank)

Fuinjutsu: 8/10 (A-Rank)

Sensing (Base level): 10/10 (S-Rank)

Stealth: 8/10 (A-Rank)

Senjutsu: 4/10 (Minako has only started learning Senjutsu)

Overall Rank: S-Rank; no one really has any viable intel on her except Itachi, but it's not like he would ever disclose anything; bingo books estimate lower S-Rank or higher

* * *

Databook stats (at age 18, but in the same format as the official databooks):

Ninjutsu: 5

Taijutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 2.5

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 3 (5 in Bijuu Mode)

Speed: 5

Stamina: 6

Hand Seals: 5

Total: 35.5 (tied with Itachi and Jiraiya)


	10. Minako, Daughter of the Yellow Flash

Six years before the Kyuubi Attack, a certain couple was rejoicing at the new bundle of joy that had just entered the world.

The nurse had said that the baby was a girl. The moment Kushina and Minato laid eyes on her, their eyes began to sparkle wildly.

"She's so cuuuuute!" Kushina couldn't stop gushing about her newborn child. Minato didn't react that extremely, but he shared Kushina's sentiments toward their child.

"Kushina, what do you want to name her?"

"Minako. I have no doubt that she will grow up to become a strong, independent, and beautiful kunoichi."

Minato smiled and chuckled softly. "She's so perfect."

Beaming, the couple took their child back into the village.

* * *

FIVE YEARS LATER:

"Hana, you're it!"

"I got you, Ayame!"

"Mina-chan's it!"

"I got Shisui!"

Shisui did not seem happy. Even if Minako was the only one who could keep up with him, he'd never actually been caught before.

Kushina, Mikoto, and Tsume laughed at their children's antics. The three women had to agree that it was totally adorable.

Shisui tried to chase Minako and tag her back, but he could only match her speed and she had a headstart. He smirked, however, because now he could use that ace he had been keeping up his sleeve. He channeled his chakra and activated the Jutsu that would earn him his title.

"Shunshin!"

All of the children watched in awe. Given his lack of experience with the Shunshin, Shisui wasn't all that fast, but it was more than enough to destroy any of his friends at any game involving speed. Minako was shocked. _WHOA! _She thought. _Shisui's so fast! At this rate, he'll pull ahead of Itachi and me in no time! I _have _to ask Dad to teach me how to be as fast as he is!_

* * *

Later that day:

Minato was coming out of the bathroom, having washed his hands after dinner. He felt a tug on his sleeve. He smiled down at his daughter. "What's up, Minako?"

"Daddy! Teach me the Hiraishin!"

Minato sweat dropped. "Uhh… Minako. The Hiraishin is a very advanced Jutsu. Even I had to spend years on it to even use the most basic form. You've barely even learned the fundamental Jutsu at your age. But I promise we'll work even harder on your training from now on. I just want to know one thing. Why are you suddenly so intent on doing this?"

"Because I can't fall behind Shisui-kun and Itachi-kun! Shisui used the Shunshin today! At this rate I'll be left in the dust!"

Minato hesitated a bit. "Okay," he said after a bit of thinking. "But we'll also have to try to get you in the Academy in about a year, okay?"

Kushina butted in. "Minato! She's just a little girl! Don't you want her to have a normal childhood?"

Minato chuckled. "But Kushina, war is imminent right now! And Kakashi's about to become a jounin! I hate to do this to my own daughter, but in war, we have to take everyone we can get."

Kushina was a little sad. "She'll have to grow up so fast…"

Minato chuckled again. "Kushina, I'm quite sure that Itachi and Shisui will be doing the same thing. These three are no ordinary children. I can see great potential in them. I'm sure the council will approve of my decision to enroll them early, along with any other children from prominent clans who wish to do so."

Kushina had gotten pregnant recently. The whole family was ecstatic. And the village was excited, too. Even Jiraiya had dropped by to congratulate them.

"Jiraiya-jisan!" Minako was happy to see him.

"Minako! My, look how you've grown!" Jiraiya was happy to see his goddaughter again. He then turned to Kushina. "And now you're going to get a sibling."

"It's a boy, I know it," said Kushina matter-of-factly. She glanced at Minato. "And we've also decided to name him after the main character in your book, Ero-Sennin!"

"Ero-Sennin?" said Minako innocently.

The three adults sweat dropped. "Don't worry about it right now, Minako!" said Minato quickly. "It's Jiraiya-jisan to you!"

Jiraiya laughed heartily. "Anyway, why do you want to name him Naruto?"

"We believe he will become a great shinobi, and we just liked the name. Besides, we want you to be his godfather!"

Jiraiya sweat-dropped again. "I'm no good with kids!"

Kushina and Minato raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, sure. As if you and Minako don't get along," they said in unison.

"Yeah!" agreed Minako. "Jiraiya-jisan is the coolest! After Dad of course!"

"What about Kakashi?"

Minako frowned. "Too serious. He's so boring!"

Minato got a sad look in his eyes. "You know, Minako, Kakashi has been through a lot. I wouldn't hold the way he's acting against him," he said softly. "Anyways, how about you and I go do some training, Minako?"

Minako nodded vigorously, evidently excited.

* * *

October 10 (Minako turned six on the tenth of September)

Minako had been sent to stay at Mikoto's place that night, since Minato and Kushina would be gone for Naruto's birth. Presently, Minako was having a casual spar with Itachi.

But things weren't going so smoothly for Kushina and Minato. Kushina's labor had been long and painful, but Naruto was born at long last. Unfortunately, there was no time to celebrate, as a masked man took Naruto and held a knife to his neck. Minato had managed to get him away, but when he teleported back to get Kushina, the masked man had already chained her up. He had begun extracting the Nine-Tails from her. Minato had managed to get her away for the time being, but now there was a huge Tailed Beast looming over them.

The masked man laughed. "Now, it is time to crush Konoha."

Minato quickly took Kushina back to the village and decided to leave her and Naruto with Mikoto. Before Mikoto could respond, Minato was already gone. Moments later, shinobi were moving out, helping with evacuations.

Minato tried to fight the Kyuubi, but it was no use. He was being controlled by a Sharingan, as evidenced by the change in his eyes. Minato focused his trained sensory abilities. He went after the chakra signature he had picked up.

He found the masked man there. He promptly engaged the man in combat. It was tough, since all of Minato's attacks passed through him. But he was able to deduce that the man needed to be solid to attack. And so, he teleported behind him before he could react and drove him into the ground with a large Rasengan.

The masked man got up after a few seconds. He figured it was best to just not mess with Minato, so he left.

Minato sighed in relief. But then he remembered the Nine-Tails. _I have to seal that beast away, but who should bear such a burden? Kushina's weakened significantly, so maybe I could… no! Not Naruto!_ But Minato knew there was no one else. It had to be Naruto. He teleported to Naruto and took him and Kushina to the Nine-Tails.

"Kushina, I need you to restrain the Nine-Tails with your chains. Can you manage?"

She simply nodded. Within seconds, a barrier had enveloped the Nine-Tails and it was restrained by chains. Minato started forming hand signs.

"No, Minato! Not that seal!"

He smiled back at his wife. "Nothing else will work. Reaper Death Seal!"

He had Kushina go outside, and he set everything up himself.

Kushina's chains kept the Nine-Tails under control, while Minato was able to split it in half and seal part of it in Naruto. He took the other half with him.

The sealing went quite smoothly. Before the Shinigami took Minato away from good, he took one last look at Kushina and Naruto, and a tear rolled down his face.

"I guess this is goodbye. I'm sorry for not being able to raise them with you, Kushina."

And with that, the Fourth Hokage was taken by the Shinigami and his life came to an end.

**That's a wrap! Sorry for the short chapter, and sorry if it feels a little rushed. I was trying my best to keep the pacing comfortable enough. **

**Next chapter: Team 12**


	11. Hitomi Hyuuga - Profile

**Before moving on to the next chapter, I figured it would be a good idea to profile another OC that'll be appearing from now on:**

Name: Hitomi Hyuuga

A.K.A.:

Shi no yousei hime (All-Seeing Princess of Death; her moniker from the Third Shinobi War)

The All-Seer (Orushia if you want it in Japanese)

Clan: Hyuuga Clan (branch family)

* * *

Family:

Hinata Hyuuga (cousin)

Hanabi Hyuuga (cousin; not born yet in current arc)

Neji Hyuuga (younger brother)

Hiashi Hyuuga (uncle)

Hizashi Hyuuga (father)

* * *

Classification: Sensor Type

Rank: Jounin since age 12

Age: same as Kakashi (17 in the current arc, and 26 – 27 in the main story)

Occupation: Jounin Sensei

* * *

Chakra Natures:

Water (affinity)

Lightning (second affinity)

Wind

Yang Release

Kekkei Genkai:

Byakugan

* * *

Appearance:

Current height: 177 cm or about 5'9 (current arc) and 180 cm or about 5'11 (main story)

Hair: Looks like adult Hanabi's but is about 8 inches shorter than waist-length

Frame: Slender but lean and muscular

* * *

Abilities:

General:

Like Kakashi, Hitomi is a prodigy. While she and Kakashi weren't put on the same team, they have always been good friends and training partners. Both graduated at the same time and were promoted to chuunin and eventually jounin at roughly the same time. Hitomi is a taijutsu master who is considered one of the best users of the Gentle Fist/Juuken in the whole Hyuuga Clan. She also learned how to open the first two of the Eight Gates from Gai, though she stopped learning them after she mastered the second Gate. Hitomi is also extremely proficient in the use of genjutsu because she has a talent for it, but usually doesn't bother to use it. She mainly relies on taijutsu and ninjutsu.

Hitomi is proficient in ninjutsu to the point of being able to use three of the five basic natures, as well as Yang Release. She possesses a solid arsenal of Jutsu based around her four natures.

Chakra Reserves:

Hitomi's chakra reserves are above average. They're somewhat larger than Kakashi's.

* * *

Likes: Her family, her students, her classmates, Konoha

Dislikes: Clan politics (especially the Uchiha-Hyuuga conflict), politics in general, the Caged Bird Seal

* * *

Databook Stats (in the current arc; she's a bit more powerful in the main story):

Ninjutsu: 10/10

Taijutsu: 10/10

Genjutsu: 7.5/10

Intelligence: 8/10 (Battle IQ: 9/10)

Strength: 7/10

Speed: 8/10

Stamina: 6/10

Hand Seals: 10/10

Sensing: 10/10 (11/10 with Byakugan)

Stealth: 7/10

Senjutsu: N/A

Overall Rank: currently lower S-Rank, generally listed as S or S- in Bingo Books


	12. The Formation of Team 12

In the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had sacrificed himself for the good of the village.

A good part of the village had been destroyed, but Konoha was back on its feet within a month.

Kushina was well enough to stand on her own two feet now, but it was obvious that she had lost much of her former strength and vigor. The doctors hadn't told her anything yet, but she knew she was dying now, and that she would pass away within a few years. She was greatly saddened that she wouldn't be able to see either of her children grow up and become great Shinobi. But for now, she had decided to withhold the secret from Minako. She couldn't put such a burden on Minako after she had lost her father. Kushina had taken it upon herself to bear the pain.

Kushina did all she could to help Minako learn the fundamentals of the Shinobi way, as well as helping her understand the information on the scrolls Minato had entrusted to them, but just couldn't keep up with her in taijutsu. Minako practiced that with Itachi and Shisui.

Mikoto would often come over with the boys (and an infant Sasuke) and have a chat with Kushina while the children trained.

All in all, Minako lived a relatively carefree life as a little girl. But soon, that would all change…

* * *

A LITTLE OVER A YEAR LATER (Minako is about to turn eight):

Minako, Itachi, and Shisui had passed their Genin Exams with flying colors. Only six students from the fast track had passed in all. They were all considered to be equal, so there was no need to try to balance teams. As such, Minako, Itachi, and Shisui had been placed on the same team at their request, and the other three had planned to become a team anyways, so there was no problem there.

Minako, Itachi, and Shisui were placed on Team 12, and were assigned to the Jounin Sensei Hitomi Hyuuga.

"Minako, I'm so proud of you!" Kushina was overjoyed. "So, who's on your team?"

"Itachi and Shisui! Our Sensei is a woman called Hitomi Hyuuga."

"That's great! Actually, I just remembered that she's a good friend of Kakashi's! She's going to keep you on your toes, ya know. You better not let your success get to your head."

* * *

THE NEXT DAY

After class at the Academy, the homeroom teacher bid the fresh Genin goodbye. Their Senseis arrived promptly.

"Team 12, meet me up on the roof of the Academy," said the Hyuuga, before vanishing.

The other Sensei told his students to rise, and led them out of the room. Minako, Itachi, and Shisui got up together, and exited through the window. Using chakra, they walked up the wall.

"I see you've already mastered the chakra control exercises," said their Sensei when they came up behind her. "A pleasant surprise."

"Thank you, sensei," they said in unison.

She giggled a little at how in sync they were. "Well, why don't you take a seat here?" she said with a warm smile, gesturing to a place.

When they were seated, she spoke again. "Alright, I hope you ate lightly, because there is a risk of you vomiting during the exercise we're about to do." She sweat dropped when none of the Genin flinched.

"Anyhow, before we do that, how about we introduce ourselves? I'm Hitomi Hyuuga, I like my family and being a mentor, I dislike the Uchiha-Hyuuga conflict (she glanced at Itachi and Shisui), and my goal is to raise you to become excellent shinobi. Who wants to go next?"

Minako raised her hand. Hitomi laughed and said, "Well, aren't you just adorable? Sure, you go next."

Minako blushed in embarrassment but shook it off. "I'm Minako Namikaze; I like my family, training, Mom's cooking, and Itachi and Shisui; I dislike people who dislike my brother and jerks who start fights; and my dream and goal is to become a greater Hokage than my father!"

Realization dawned on Hitomi. "Oh, you're Kushina-san's girl, are you?" She nodded.

"Anyway," said Hitomi, trying to lighten the mood, "how about you go next?"

Itachi sighed. "I'm Itachi Uchiha. I like my clan and Konoha, as well as Shisui and Minako, I hate conflict and hatred, and my goal is to protect the village, no matter what."

Hitomi nodded in approval. Then, they all looked at Shisui. "I'm Shisui Uchiha. I love Konoha, Itachi, and Minako, I hate war, and my goal is to protect everything and everyone I love, no matter what."

"Well then, now that that's out of the way, I'll take you to the training ground for one last test. I'll explain everything."

* * *

At the training ground:

"Alright, your objective is to take these bells from me," she said, gesturing to the bells hooked at her waist. "Don't hold anything back and come at me with killing intent, or you're doomed to go back to the Academy. Remember, only the two who take these bells will be able to pass. You have until nightfall. Time starts now."

The trio of Genin quickly retreated into the trees. Hitomi sat down and focused on sensing, so she would be able to know if anyone was coming. She didn't think the Byakugan would be necessary yet, so she decided against using it.

Meanwhile, in the trees, Minako, Itachi, and Shisui had come up with an attack plan and had begun to move out.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu." Three clones of Minako materialized. One went after Itachi, another after Shisui, and the third went to watch so it could dispel to alert Minako.

Once in position, Itachi and Shisui told the clone to dispel. Then, they charged at Hitomi. She had already sensed Itachi and Shisui, even though she was holding back a lot with her sensing.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" said the two Uchiha, simultaneously performing the Jutsu. And at the same time, the Minako clones added Wind Chakra to strengthen the move. "Wind Style: Immense Breakthrough!"

Hitomi dodged the attack effortlessly, but she had to admit this was impressive. She was also caught completely off guard when the real Minako appeared through the smoke. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!"

Hitomi used a Substitution Jutsu and appeared behind Minako. She vaulted off of her student and away from where the other two were.

"Shunshin!" Hitomi barely had time to dodge Shisui as he flew by her. Meanwhile, Minako had started firing off Gale Palms to reach Hitomi, but Hitomi used the Juuken (Gentle Fist) in the same way to maintain her distance. Shisui had managed to change direction, so he shunshined past Hitomi again, but he grabbed the bells this time.

Minako and Shisui began to celebrate, but then the bells flickered in Shisui's hand like a mirage and revealed explosive tags. Hitomi also flickered and disappeared. As it turned out, she was already on the ground and was casually overpowering Itachi in a taijutsu fight, giving him absolutely no space and preventing him from getting away, all without the Juuken. It was only a matter of time before Itachi ran out of stamina…

"Genjutsu! But when did she… dammit!" Shisui flicked off the explosive tags and shunshined into Minako, getting both of them out of harm's way. Itachi, meanwhile, had dispelled the genjutsu as soon as he caught on (which was easy since he wasn't fighting Hitomi at the time), and was waiting for Hitomi to come to him. As Minako and Shisui landed, they rushed to join Itachi.

However, Shisui had used up quite a bit of chakra with all those shunshins, and he was panting now. Minako, of course, had absurd chakra reserves due to her heritage, and she hadn't even expended a lot of chakra yet. In fact, it had already begun to replenish.

All three of the genin were currently running through various scenarios and outcomes in their heads at absurd speeds.

They couldn't come up with anything. They figured they would simply have to try and pressure their Sensei with more simultaneous attacks. _We could use a pair or two of Sharingan_, they all thought.

The three regrouped and tried to hide for a while. They were certain that they would fail without a plan. Minako had an idea, however.

"You guys seem to be running a bit low on chakra. How about I fight her with Shadow Clones and you use some ranged Jutsu in conjunction with my attacks?"

"But she's not even using the Byakugan. What makes you think we can beat her? We are just genin, after all," remarked Shisui flatly.

"We only need the bells, though," retorted Itachi. "Even a lucky Shunshin would be enough to achieve that, don't you think?"

"It's risky, but I doubt we have anything to lose. We are pretty young… I guess we should try it," said Shisui eventually.

Minako was gone before either of the Uchiha could say anything.

Hitomi sensed Minako coming towards her, so she prepared to fight by pumping a bit of chakra into her limbs.

There were about 20 copies of Minako rushing her at the same time. _An odd strategy_, thought Hitomi. _Still, I'm sure they'll do something totally unexpected anytime now._

Hitomi dispensed with all the clones relatively easily. There were just two Minakos left. The one that was a clone rushed in to attack, and at that moment, two Jutsu were closing in on Hitomi.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Shisui had launched a barrage of fireballs, while Itachi had augmented them with wind chakra.

Hitomi released a burst of water chakra at the Jutsu, creating a mass of steam.

In the ensuing steam, no one could see what had happened. Hitomi was a little confused, however, as she found herself bound by something hard. It was also messing with her chakra flow, but she knew she could easily break out.

As everything cleared up, all was revealed. Hitomi was bound by chains which originated from Minako's palm. Granted, the chains were tarnished and both Hitomi and Minako knew that they would break soon, but what Minako had just done was an impressive feat, nonetheless.

"Shunshin!" Shisui was already coming to take the bells.

Hitomi activated her Byakugan, just to be safe. Everything slowed down for her. She swiftly loosened the chains by wriggling around a little, just enough to allow her to plant her feet in the right way.

"Eight Trigrams Rotation!"

The chains shattered. Shisui was knocked back. Itachi could only watch in awe.

Shisui collapsed from the ground due to chakra exhaustion. Minako fell down and started spluttering because she had been concentrating so hard to maintain the feeble chains that she had forgotten to breathe. Itachi wasn't exhausted or anything, but he knew he didn't have the chakra to fight anymore. Withstanding Hitomi's taijutsu onslaught earlier by augmenting his movements with chakra _and_ launching enough wind chakra for all of Shisui's fireballs had taken a toll on him.

Hitomi let her students catch their breath.

"…dammit!" Shisui was not satisfied with himself. "I'm so pathetic…"

"Don't sell yourself short," said Hitomi. "That goes for you two as well. You may not have gotten the bells from me, but I was really testing your teamwork. I'm really proud of you three. You even forced me to use the Byakugan to avoid that last Shunshin! You've far exceeded my expectations! So, you pass! From now on, you are full-fledged genin!"

The genin sighed in relief.

"Also, Minako 'awakened' a new Jutsu! It's great, since her mother is the only other one who can use it."

"Are you talking about the chains, Sensei?" asked Itachi and Shisui.

She nodded.

"Wait, so Hitomi-Sensei, we can finally start going on missions, right?" asked Minako eagerly.

"You betcha! But first, we're gonna have to grind through a ton of D-Ranks. Sorry guys, Hokage-sama's orders."

Everyone groaned.

"Anyhow, why don't we all celebrate? Let's go out and eat somewhere. What do you say?"

The three friends looked at each other for confirmation, before nodding in unison.

"Great! You can take it easy now, my students, because you have earned every single bite of the food you're about to eat."

And so the squad left the training ground in search of good food.

**A/N: Sorry if the ending feels weird, I'm just not sure that anything else needs to be said here. Anyhow, sorry for the slow update speed. I have to take two AP Exams soon and I have a project or two to finish, so I'm pretty occupied. Peace!**


	13. Missions (Part 1)

Young Naruto was not happy. Based on his expression, he was dangerously close to crying.

Kushina's maternal instincts had already alerted her, but she was busy making some breakfast for Minako. After all, Minako needed to maintain a good balanced diet in order to be in top form for tomorrow's mission. And given Naruto's behavior, in the time it would take to placate him, the food would burn. Luckily, Minako decided to step out of her bathroom at that moment, since she had just finished up with her morning hygiene regimen.

"Minako dear, could you check to see what Naruto needs? He's like less than a minute away from crying and I've gotta watch your breakfast."

Minako sweatdropped at that, but she was ready for action. "No problem, mom!"

By the time she reached her 2-year-old brother, he had already started whimpering. She picked him up first. He immediately fell silent, but he started smiling up at Minako. She just smiled back. He was still as cute as he had been in his infancy.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" She sniffed for any signs of a dirty diaper, but he was clean. He had already been fed by Kushina, too, so that wasn't the issue either. Now that she thought about it, he actually seemed kind of tired. He hadn't even tried to get up and walk or anything this time, and he already could walk.

Naruto was able to use some small words, but he just blew a raspberry at his sister. She giggled a little at that. Minako asked him again if he wanted something.

And his response was the first two syllable-word he ever used.

"Wamen."

"Ramen?"

"Wamen!"

"Alright, alright. Settle down and we'll get you some ramen. That sound good to you?"

Naruto laughed and cooed at Minako as she sat him down in a raised chair.

"Mom, do you have some ramen? Naruto says he wants some."

Kushina's face lit up. "Are you saying that Naruto likes ramen _and_ moved on to two-syllable words?"

"Yeah."

Kushina's eyes were sparkling suddenly. "So, my little Naru has also become drawn to the food of the Gods, dattebane!"

Minako sweatdropped and laughed nervously.

"By the way, Mina-chan, there's no need to worry about the ramen, I'll make some. You focus on eating your breakfast," said Kushina, pointing to a spot on the table. The food was there, as if by magic.

Minako didn't argue; she was pretty hungry. "Itadakimasu!"

* * *

Later that day:

"So the Chuunin Exams are coming up. I was thinking that if you three do well on this mission, I might recommend you for it as a team."

A glint was visible in each of their eyes.

"Anyway, I'll remind you that this is a low B-Rank Mission. It won't be like the stuff we've done so far. You will really be tested here."

Remembering a particularly humiliating D-Rank mission from before, the group collectively sweatdropped.

**Flashback**

"Shunshin!"

The moment Shisui caught sight of Tora, he went straight for it. The cat, for whatever reason, decided to move out of the way, not even paying attention to Shisui. Everyone sweatdropped at that.

_A Sharingan would be nice right about now_, they all thought. Hitomi had left the mission to the Genin, so her Byakugan was off-limits this time. That meant that they just had to get Tora on their own.

Shisui was getting a little frustrated, and he was showing it pretty comically.

"Dammit! How come I could beat everyone at the Academy, but a _cat_ dodges my Shunshin?"

Minako giggled at his frustration, and even Itachi chuckled a little.

"Leave him to me, Shisui-kun! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suffice to say, the cat was caught quickly when it had nowhere left to run. Minako did get a few scratches on her, but the cat calmed down eventually.

The team had to go through four other missions like that one, as well as some grueling C-Ranks that they still found easy, but it got boring about halfway through the third mission.

After several missions, the Hokage had determined that Team 12 was probably too good for even C-Ranks, so he gave them a B-Rank and listed them as possible Chuunin candidates. Chuckling, he realized that he could not afford to allocate any more C-Ranks to Team 12 for the sake of other Genin, and besides, there wasn't anyone available for this one at the moment, anyways…

**End Flashback**

* * *

**A/N: Mission Details:**

**Objective: Capture targets and rescue a victim**

**Targets: Two Rogue Ninja and the client's daughter**

**Target Rank: Based on what the offenders have demonstrated, B-Rank**

**Reason: Targets kidnapped the client's daughter**

**All targets wanted alive**

**Client: A Fire Country Noble**

The day of the mission, 0700 (the main gate of Konoha):

"Are we ready?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Alright, then, the mission starts now. Let's move out."

**Timeskip**

* * *

Somewhere in Fire Country:

"Sensei, can we sit down and rest a while?"

Shisui snickered. "You have an awfully low amount of stamina for an Uzumaki," he teased.

"For your information, I've been trying really hard to make those chains from last time work and I'm a little worn out from that. Besides, you don't have the right to say anything since you can't even use the Sharingan."

Itachi and Hitomi whistled. "Burn," said Hitomi, suppressing a laugh.

Itachi couldn't say that Minako was wrong, but this argument was really getting annoying. "Can you both please just shut up and keep jumping?"

"Shh! I sense someone coming! I don't recognize the chakra, so be on your guard," warned Hitomi, activating her Byakugan.

The Genin were suddenly at attention.

Somewhere nearby, a rogue ninja was watching the squad, not knowing that Hitomi was also watching him (she intentionally had her back to him). He licked his lips. _Two more exotic beauties. And young Uchiha. I've hit the jackpot. _The rogue was soon lost in fantasies of rolling around in the huge amounts of ransom cash he could get using these four, or the money he could get by selling them. And of course, he was going to take a Sharingan or two for himself.

He was snapped back to reality by the feeling of a knife against his throat.

"Based on the description, you're one of the targets," remarked Itachi from behind him. The rogue smirked and dissipated into smoke.

Not too far off, another rogue suddenly perked her head up when he felt a chakra signal. Realizing her partner had found something good, she cautiously moved toward the source so she could see just what was going on there.

The first rogue re-materialized behind Minako and grabbed her by the throat.

"An exquisite beauty, even at this tender age," he remarked.

Minako responded by elbowing the man in the abdomen with chakra enhanced strength. Of course, it was nowhere near what the likes of Tsunade could do, but taking the hit directly was still extremely painful.

Minako continued to attack the rogue with taijutsu while the rest of the team surrounded him, but the rogue was obviously more experienced, and he soon ignored the pain enough to subdue Minako with a choke hold.

Shisui shunshined into the rogue but was swatted aside by his free arm. In the meantime, Itachi had managed to catch him in a genjutsu that he cast with the sound that drawing his kunai had produced. Itachi moved in to knock the man out and free Minako, but he was swatted aside by another person.

The other person was the rogue's partner, and she funneled some chakra into her partner. "What took you so long to break out of a genjutsu cast by a little kid?"

The male rogue was momentarily dazed. "It was just… so elaborate yet subtle."

Already ignoring him, the female looked the others over. _Guess he really knows how to pick 'em._

Hitomi had faith in her students, so she diverted the female's attention. "I got this one! You three can handle the other."

In response, the genin drew their kunai.

The rogue laughed. "Konoha must be getting weaker. Can't believe they would send three little brats and an arrogant Hyuuga with a stick up their ass to fight us. Pathetic."

The genin kept their cool, not reacting to the comment. They were going to prove him wrong, anyways.

The three had become able to communicate through eye contact alone over the past few missions, and they had only gotten better at it. They knew how invaluable that would be during the upcoming Chuunin Exams.

It had been decided that Itachi would engage the rogue in taijutsu despite the fact that he was relatively slow (all three are very fast for genin, but Itachi is just the slowest of the three), since he was the best at it. Of course, a few Minako Clones would be helping him, and Minako and Shisui would provide backup with some ranged ninjutsu and Shisui's exemplary shurikenjutsu.

The rogue had other ideas, though. Wrongly assuming that Minako would be the weakest since she was a girl (poor guy doesn't know she's an Uzumaki and both of her parents had a lot of stamina and crazy chakra reserves, making her the most durable), he went for her first.

Itachi and Shisui immediately began to prepare ninjutsu to compensate for the contingency, but the rogue had realized this and activated his kekkei genkai, Swift Release. He was now fast enough to dodge the ninjutsu and Minako's taijutsu attacks and too fast to be seen by their unaided and inexperienced eyes. The rogue hit Minako with a barrage of Swift Release punches, but Minako managed to buy herself enough time for a substitution by putting a shadow clone between herself and the rogue.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!"

The air bullets were fired a split second after the fireballs, so that they would come together at a closer distance from the target. The rogue was in the middle of launching an attack that was going to miss since Minako had escaped with a substitution jutsu, but he still managed to dodge all of the enhanced fireballs. Luckily, one of the air bullets had missed the corresponding fireball, and it hit the rogue.

Taking advantage of the fact that the rogue was stunned, the three regrouped to take stock of the situation.

"Mina-chan, are you alright?" asked Shisui.

"Just a few bruises..." she said, a little sheepishly. There were a few bruises on her arms, but the worse ones were along her upper midriff and upper torso. She wasn't going through puberty or anything, but she did not feel like being checked for injuries, especially by boys, and she trusted her Uzumaki healing factor to fix the injuries in time anyways. Plus, she was never going to admit that it was painful.

Itachi and Shisui saw right through the lie. She was obviously in pain. It made them both feel… guilty. She had given them so many chances to attack the rogue by unwittingly taking all those hits. They had failed to do any damage whatsoever. The rogue was just too fast. But stemming from their guilt and their desire to protect their best friend, a new chakra began to flow through their veins. For both boys, time slowed down. They suddenly began to perceive an unprecedented amount of detail in any movements they saw. Their eyes were red, with a black dot in the middle for the pupil and one tomoe.

"Itachi, Shisui! Your eyes…"

Realizing they had awakened the Sharingan, the boys prepared to engage the rogue in hand to hand combat. Minako created two shadow clones to help them and made another for herself to provide support with collaborative ninjutsu. Despite Minako's age, her shadow clones had already advanced to the point where they would have to be seriously injured before being forced to dispel.

Itachi and Shisui were easily holding their ground due to their now-enhanced reflexes, and thanks to their speed, it wasn't impossible for their bodies to keep up. The shadow clones may not have been able to keep up, but they were still useful as meat shields and still helped to keep the rogue on his toes.

Suddenly, Minako could feel both of their chakras flare. That was her cue.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!"

"Wind Style: Divine Mountain Wind!"

The rogue was caught by the attack while still in midair, so he was unable to dodge in time. He managed to take the hit with his arms, however.

Itachi and Shisui wasted no time in continuing their onslaught.

WITH HITOMI

The female rogue immediately started to weave hand signs.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Fang!"

"Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!"

Hitomi was already gone from her position when the jutsu was fully nullified.

She appeared behind the female rogue and blocked some of her chakra points. Then, with a chakra-enhanced jump kick to the torso, she knocked the rogue off the tree branch and into the ground. Dropping down next to her, Hitomi prepared a Jutsu to fully incapacitate the rogue. Infusing chakra to enhance her speed, Hitomi started the technique. Just to be safe, she made sure to get in as many hits as possible.

"Eight Trigrams Two Hundred Fifty-Six Palms!"

_**Two palm.**_

_**Four palm.**_

_**Eight palm.**_

_**Sixteen palm.**_

_**Thirty-two palm.**_

_**Sixty-four palm.**_

_**One hundred twenty-eight palm.**_

_**Two hundred fifty-six palm.**_

20 seconds later, the rogue nin was unconscious.

Hitomi shook it off a little and let out a long breath. _Been a while since I used more than 128 hits on anyone except Kakashi. I wasn't even near my full speed! I didn't think standards for the average shinobi had dropped _this_ low since Minato-sensei's death… Oh well, all the more reason to train my students to surpass our generation._

Putting the female rogue over her shoulder and deactivating the Byakugan, she followed her students' chakra. The first thing she saw when she got there was Minako's back, as she was dodging an attack. Thanks to Hitomi's quick reflexes, catching her student and setting her down was child's play.

"You mind leaving a shadow clone to watch over this one?"

"Sure."

The other rogue was quite a bit better at close combat than his female counterpart, as the injuries on the Genin were evident. However, Hitomi noted that Itachi and Shisui had both awakened the Sharingan.

The rogue scoffed. "You think that landing a few hits with the help of those eyes will be enough to beat me? I haven't even gotten serious yet!"

"Swift Release: Blinding Speed!"

Hitomi knew that there was no way the Genin would be able to avoid the attack, even at their level, so she decided to counter it herself, activating the Byakugan to make things easier to see.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

The rogue was stunned by the impact of the perfectly aimed attack. Hitomi rushed in to finish it off.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

Then, she funneled some lightning chakra into the Jutsu, taking advantage of the water's conductivity.

The rogue was rendered unconscious.

The team collectively sighed. Hitomi produced restraints with special seals to disable chakra flow on them from an inside pocket on her flak jacket and applied them to the rogues.

"Well, that concludes the first part of the mission. I must say, I'm proud of you for holding your own against a B-Rank nukenin, even if he was pretty weak for a B-Rank. Also, I'm sorry that you had to be injured this badly. Anyhow, we should set up camp somewhere now, preferably near a water source. We should take the targets with us. I'll send a request for someone to escort the captives, so we don't have to worry about them anymore. We won't need to interrogate them ourselves because they're going straight to T&I. Ibiki-san should be able to extract every last bit of useful info from them in no time. While that's happening, the four of us can go to a town I found nearby and rest up at their best inn. We can get some training in, too."

The Genin nodded in understanding.

Hitomi whistled a special note, and a falcon cried out in response. It came down and perched on her shoulder. She promptly produced a sealing scroll from a pocket insider her flak jacket and unsealed a piece of paper. Writing the request down, she rolled the paper around the falcon's leg and made the paper sticky with a little bit of chakra. The falcon then flew away to inform Konoha.

The team quickly built a fire with the help of some shadow clones and settled down for the night, with Minako's shadow clones keeping watch.

**About 8 hours later**

Having slept more than enough, the team awoke to a newly risen sun. Leaving some shadow clones to keep watch and dispel in case of any contingencies, the Konoha shinobi decided to use the time they had to freshen up a bit, eat something light, and get in a little training. Hitomi also found the falcon she had sent off nearby with her sensory skills. Calling it over, she found a reply from Konoha that said the ninja sent to retrieve the targets was scheduled to arrive by noon.

They put a little distance between them, so that they couldn't see each other but were still within earshot of one another and prepared to bathe in the river. They did it quickly and efficiently, and without any… issues. After that, each caught themselves a rabbit, modestly sized fish, or something of about that size, and they regrouped at the fire to cook up their food. Sealing away any extra meat into a scroll, they started to work on their jutsu, trying to refine the flow of chakra and, in Minako's case, conserve it, since Wind Release jutsu required an exceptionally fine degree of chakra control.

All three of the genin had already mastered all of the basic chakra control exercises (and most of the advanced ones). They could comfortably walk up waterfalls and do all sorts of other interesting things with their chakra that no normal genin could achieve in 3 years. They were also extremely proficient with both of their affinities. Between the three of them, they had Fire Release (which each had as their secondary affinity), Wind Release (Minako's affinity), Water Release (Itachi's affinity), and Lightning Release (Shisui's affinity). However, outside of being able to use roughly six Jutsu between both of their affinities, they hadn't really trained in doing anything else with elemental chakra. Sure, they could easily infuse that chakra or whatever, but honestly, their better-than-average chakra control was simply being squandered on much simpler things than what these three should have been doing. On the bright side, they now had ample time to learn exactly how that worked, with nothing there to interrupt them.

Hitomi's train of thought was stopped in its tracks (sorry if you thought that was supposed to be a pun; even if it was, it would suck) by Minako, however.

"Sensei! The targets are stirring."

The team moved back to the fire, and Minako dispelled all of her shadow clones. Hitomi had foraged for some berries she knew would come in handy for knocking out people and had made a special concoction which she fed the targets. Of course, she had a bit of an antidote handy for the ANBU escort in case the rogues hadn't woken up by the time they had reached Konoha.

* * *

**About 2 hours past noon**

Hitomi felt the chakra of a ninken nearby. It was quite familiar. Remembering who the hound's master was, she rolled her eyes. Of all the ANBU the Sandaime could have picked, it just had to be him. Hitomi did appreciate being able to catch up with an old friend but having to do so in the middle of a mission was kind of weird. And annoying, since this particular friend had continued with his habit of showing up to literally everything two hours late.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. Thing is, I'm trying to slow things down a bit because I know that I tend to rush a bit with things, which often leads to the omission of important details and the development of relationships between characters and all that… Plus, I had been busy with school up until a while ago, and during the first few weeks of summer break, I've had to do A LOT of family stuff. So, I just wasn't able to work on this. Also, sorry that I had to end it here. It was just getting too long, and the next chapter is part of this mission but kind of separate, so to me, it just made more sense to split them. Anyway, it's getting kind of late here. Peace!**


	14. Missions (Part 2)

**3 Years ago**

"Daddyyyyy! Can you teach me one of your cool ninjutsu? I wanna learn more Wind Style stuff."

Minato laughed at his daughter's antics. "First, let go of my leg," he said in a stern tone. When she had let go, he continued. "Have you finished tree-climbing?"

She nodded.

"Water walking? Sticking a leaf to your forehead? Creating an open flame? Making a breeze?"

He listed off a few more chakra manipulation exercises, and she nodded at the mention of each one.

"Do you already know any Wind Style jutsu?"

She shook her head.

"Well, how about I start with the basics? Have you ever seen Tsunade-san's chakra-enhanced strength?"

"Yeah! It's insane!"

"You can kind of do that, right? Well, there's a simple jutsu called Wind Style: Gale Palm. You just do the same thing, but with your hand open and the attack fired wherever your palm points. Also, you have to apply wind nature to the chakra. Think you can do that? I mean, you _are_ a Wind elemental."

It was during her time spent learning such things from Minato that Minako accidentally discovered that shadow clones could be used to accelerate the learning process. Minako quickly integrated the shadow clones into her training. Eventually, as they became more durable through her training, they also became very good sparring partners.

With the help of the shadow clones, Minako had managed to pick up quite a few basic Wind jutsu in the short time that Minato was alive while she was a Genin. She knew Gale Palm, Great Breakthrough, Air Bullets, and even Vacuum Wave. She had been taught the chakra control exercises by Jiraiya and her parents, as well as Kakashi. Shortly after she turned 7, Minako had worked to a level of complete mastery over most of these exercises. By the time she had left for the current mission with Hitomi, she had complete mastery of these four jutsu. Additionally, her training to manipulate her elemental chakra to a finer degree in order to be able to create new jutsu was well underway. Now that the escort had arrived to take back the prisoners for questioning so that the second part of the mission could be completed, there was time to rest up and continue the training.

* * *

**Back in the present**

"Ah, Hitomi-san. And long time no see, Mina-chan."

"Pakkun!" said Minako. "Wait a second. If you're here, then that means-"

"Yo." Kakashi appeared beside his hound.

Hitomi rolled her eyes at Kakashi. "Honestly, Kakashi, can't you at least be on time for a mission? I have no idea how you were even let into ANBU, seeing as how they require disciplined shinobi."

Kakashi put a hand over his heart, as if he were offended. "Ouch. That hurts," he deadpanned. "So, uh, are those two the ones I have to take back?"

Hitomi sighed loudly. _That Kakashi._ _Bakashi. _She laughed internally at the nickname Obito had given him all those years ago. "Yeah. Now get going. We need the information about their hideout ASAP."

Kakashi gave her a weird look, but he simply sealed the prisoners in a special storage scroll and went on his way.

"Bye Kakashi!" said Minako.

Kakashi waved a hand as he left.

"Come on, you three. Let's be on our way. We should probably get some training in, because it'll likely be a few days until Konoha sends back the info."

**Timeskip**

* * *

Hitomi led the genin to a nearby village and checked them into an inn. After buying the four of them a light lunch, she said it would be best if they got some training in. Minako thought this would be the perfect opportunity to finally start learning the Rasengan.

Kushina had copied one of Minato's scrolls for her and told her to keep it in case she ever got time to practice. The scroll was one of several that Minato had made for his children before he died. The scrolls contained instructions for learning some high level fuuinjutsu and Minato's signature jutsu, including the Rasengan and Hiraishin, as well as all derived techniques of the Hiraishin. Minato had also written notes in the Rasengan scroll in case any knowledge he had discovered regarding nature transformation and shape transformation of the Rasengan would help someone who tried to complete the jutsu (namely, his children).

For now, Minako decided to stick to the basic section and avoid distractions.

_Section 1: The Basics_

_The Rasengan is essentially the highest order of shape transformation. It requires very advanced chakra control. Before you attempt this, you should at least be able to fight using taijutsu and ninjutsu or genjutsu while standing on a body of water._

_Before being able to create the Rasengan, there are three core skills you absolutely must master. Below, I have included instructions for how to do so._

_Step 1: Rotation_

_You have to be able to spin your chakra in multiple different directions at once. You should spin the chakra in the same direction that your body naturally does so. You can figure that out by having someone look at the top of your head and tell you which way the hair spins._

Minako summoned a shadow clone to check the top of her head. When it dispelled, she saw an image of the top of her head in her mind's eye. She noted that the hair spun clockwise. Then, she read on.

_It will probably be difficult to contain the chakra in one place for this, so I recommend using a round object that can be popped. A balloon filled with water or an inflated rubber ball are good examples._

Minako made a shadow clone and sent it to go and buy some balloons and rubber balls.

_Once you have a balloon in the palm of your hand (whether or not you use your dominant hand doesn't matter), you must churn your chakra inside the balloon, and in different directions. The more directions, the better. Until you can easily pop a water balloon, you must keep practicing this step._

Minako's shadow clone hadn't returned yet, so she took a look at the other two sections.

_Step 2: Power_

_Once you've completely mastered the first step, you must move on to rubber balls. There is no water inside the ball, so you will have to exert pressure on the ball from the inside by yourself. You can do that by increasing the volume of your chakra. While doing that, you must also do as you were doing in step 1._

_You must be able to easily pop the rubber ball with your chakra. A hole through which the air escapes is not enough. The ball must completely explode in a burst of air. _

_Step 3: Containment_

_After completely mastering the first steps, you must be able to contain the large volume of rotating chakra within a sphere-shaped region. You can practice this by using a water balloon as a guideline. _

_You must be able to keep the chakra flowing and rotating inside the balloon without popping it. Ideally, the balloon should not move even a little bit._

_If you can master this step and create Rasengan without the aid of something like a shadow clone, I commend you for your efforts, as it signifies that you have mastered the Rasengan, and can now create Rasengan in the palm of your hand without aid and on the fly. Congrats!_

_\- Minato Namikaze, creator of the Rasengan_

"I got the goods," said a voice suddenly. Minako was snapped out of her thoughts.

The clone put all the stuff down and took some balloons to be filled. Within a few minutes, the clone returned with some filled water balloons.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

Itachi stood in the middle of a nearby forest, Sharingan activated. He had set up targets in the trees by carving out the circles. Presently, he was brushing up on his shurikenjutsu. He had decided he would start off with that, anyway.

He threw two kunai in a random direction and at a slightly slower speed. Everything suddenly went into slow motion for Itachi. He took two more kunai in the same hand and figured out the angle from which they would have to be thrown and the speed. He jumped up so his throwing hand would be at that angle to the kunai and flicked them hard at the points he wanted to hit them from. The kunai deflected off of each other and struck their targets right in the center. Finally, Itachi flicked two kunai from his other hand at the remaining two targets. After landing, he glanced at the last two throws. Seeing that they were bullseyes, he was satisfied.

* * *

**Somewhere else…**

Shisui was in a more open place, where the trees were quite sparse. The most recent battle had given him a harsh reminder that even after three years, the only thing he could control effectively mid-Shunshin was his speed. If Shisui was to use the Shunshin to its fullest potential, being able to control the direction and react to anything that came up accordingly with or without the Sharingan were both critical. For that, he knew it was best to fight against a fast opponent, but Hitomi-sensei said she was busy; Itachi said he wanted to train for a bit because he could only see Shisui moving with the Sharingan active; and Minako was naturally the fastest of the three genin but was pretty slow compared to Shisui when he Shunshined. In fact, Shisui estimated that a relatively slow Shunshin, the fastest one that he could currently control, would be enough to blitz Minako at her current level, even if the speed that particular Shunshin achieved was just low chuunin level and would be utterly useless against a chuunin.

Anyhow, Shisui figured he would just have to get used to the speed of the Shunshin, and he did so by carving targets in the trees and trying to hit them mid-Shunshin. For now, he also used the trees to help him change direction.

* * *

**Back with Minako**

Minako had created a good 20 shadow clones and put them all to work on mastering the rotation component of the Rasengan. So far, the balloon was only bulging. Sometimes, parts of it would protrude out and make a spike-like shape, but that just wasn't enough.

Suddenly, she heard a clone concentrating hard. It started to speak.

"I think I go-"

The water balloon exploded, and the clone got soaked. It dispelled itself, and the clones and original suddenly understood exactly how the clone had caused the balloon to explode. The group shared a collective "ohhhhh" of understanding and started to imitate the technique of the successful clone as well as use it as a template on which to put their own personal twists.

About an hour later, there weren't many water balloons left and all the clones were dispelled. At last, she had done it! Even though her arm was hurting pretty bad, Minako filled up a few water balloons just to make sure. She put the first one in her palm and infused chakra. A split second later, it had burst, and quite easily.

She tried it again and got the same result. She repeated this with the remaining water balloons she had filled, but on her non-dominant hand (Minako is right-handed). Sure enough, they all exploded within a second. The first one was a bit harder, but after that, the process came to her naturally.

* * *

**The next day**

Minako collapsed, breathing heavily. _No way… Did I really just run out of chakra?_

All of the clones dispelled, and she felt some of her strength return. It would still be a while before she had enough chakra to continue this. For now, though, it was best to actively try to recover her strength.

Getting to her feet shakily, Minako stumbled her way over to the nearest tree and leaned against the trunk. Within about three minutes, she was in good enough condition to do anything that didn't require a whole lot of chakra. _Thank you, Uzumaki body!_ she thought.

Minako went back to town and took a little stroll. She was looking for someplace where she could get something light to eat, but she supposed doing a little sightseeing along the way wouldn't hurt.

She just happened to see Itachi and Shisui getting some dango and decided it would be nice to join them. After all, she could find out what they were practicing. They might be able to arrange some targeted practice for the Chuunin Exams.

"Shisui-kun! Itachi-kun!"

The boys turned in the direction of her voice, startled.

"Oh! Over here, Mina-chan!"

Minako ordered a small plate of assorted snacks to share with her teammates and joined them at the table.

* * *

**Short timeskip brought to you by chibi Minako, Itachi, and Shisui sitting at a table together**

"So," said Shisui, taking a dango from Minako's plate, "What are you doing this week, Mina-chan?"

She giggled a little, then grinned back at him. "It's a surprise," she replied at last, winking at him cutely.

Shisui now sported an equally wide smirk on his face. "Is that so? Well, I guess we'll just have to find out by sparring against each other, eh?"

"Today?!"

Shisui laughed. "What? Of course not! Maybe in three days."

"What about you, Itachi-kun?"

"I'm working on my speed and trying to evolve the Sharingan for now, but that's about it."

"Okay! Well, one thing's for certain: we _totally _gotta spar before T&I finish with those rogues."

* * *

**Back with Minako**

Minako wasn't going to work on the Rasengan just yet. She figured she should work on her speed first, as some notes in the Rasengan scroll pointed out that when the Rasengan is first mastered, it is not throwable. If she was to make any use of the Rasengan, she was going to need to be able to move fast enough to hit enemy shinobi. Catching them off guard would work too, but it was still important to be swift, no matter what.

For now, she did a few exercises with the aid of shadow clones and tried to emulate Shisui's Shunshin. After realizing the Shunshin was still too hard to control, she decided to stick with just using chakra to enhance her footspeed.

* * *

**With Shisui**

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

No matter how hard he tried, Shisui just couldn't keep from bumping into a tree here and there. He already had a few bruises. _If Itachi and Mina-chan are working on their speed, then I won't have anything special that puts me ahead of them at this rate! I _have _to master this! I have to be fast enough to protect them!_

* * *

**With Itachi**

Itachi had watched Minako performing the hand seal for the Shadow Clone Jutsu with his Sharingan a few times whenever they happened to spar. He knew about how much chakra it took, but since Minako was using them to help her learn things quickly, he also knew that even having a single clone would be invaluable, as it would cut his training times in half. With just one shadow clone and a few hours of sparring, Itachi had managed to gain some useful insight about his fighting style.

Not only that, but when Itachi got back to training after his break and formed his shadow clone, something seemed a little off.

This time, the shadow clone's Sharingan had gotten a second tomoe. Itachi would finally be able to keep up with Shisui and Minako in taijutsu battles.

* * *

**Minako**

After having sparred with her shadow clones, Minako, like Itachi, had also gained deeper insight into the strengths and weaknesses of her fighting style. In fact, she realized that she really needed to improve on her technique. She had mastery of the Academy's taijutsu style but compared to whatever style it was that the Uchiha Clan was teaching Itachi and Shisui, Minako really needed a fighting style that capitalized on _her_ inherited abilities because despite her toughness, she was the sloppiest taijutsu user on the team.

She also realized that this was all the more reason to get the Rasengan down. Since the basic Rasengan was meant to be pushed into the target by the user's hand, it would be a pretty good addition to Minako's taijutsu.

Since she was done with the speed/taijutsu training for now, Minako got back to work on the Rasengan.

Long story short, she was still unable to pop the rubber balls. _Just how much chakra am I even supposed to put into this?! _she thought.

Just then, an idea struck her. First, she tried to infuse all the chakra she could muster into the rubber ball.

A few seconds later, the ball exploded. Minako got on one knee for a few moments, quite drained by the amount of chakra she had put in. She dispelled all the clones and got back the leftover chakra. Feeling her strength return, she then picked up another ball and tried to infuse large amounts of chakra into it again. However, every time, she would decrease the amount of chakra slightly, and add a little rotation. Of course, given her experience and the sheer amount of chakra she was infusing, it was quite difficult to rotate it significantly. Taking that into consideration, Minako formed one shadow clone and had it do the same thing as her, but only using a little bit of chakra and making it churn as violently as possible, slightly increasing the amount of chakra each time.

Minako and her clone burned through several dozen of the balls by sunset. By this point, Minako was pretty tired and sweating heavily. Her hands were sore, too. But she was so close to getting the rubber ball to pop with a reasonable amount of chakra.

Just then, the shadow clone popped the rubber ball. Feeling that it had found the perfect balance of chakra and rotation, it dispelled itself to share the information. _That's it! The ideal ratio of amount and rotation!_

Minako took a ball in each hand and emulated the clone's actions. The balls popped simultaneously.

* * *

**One snack break later**

Minako reviewed the final step. Since the sun was setting now, she decided to leave that for later. For now, she summoned a few shadow clones and paired them off to spar with each other. Saving two to work with her, she had one go through the Academy's taijutsu style, looking for anything that she needed to adjust to fit her preferences. As she thought about taijutsu, her mind wandered to the Hyuuga Clan's Gentle Fist. Another idea struck her then and she ran off, leaving the shadow clones to spar.

* * *

**Near the hotel**

Hitomi was just walking out of a café near the hotel they were staying in when she heard Minako's voice.

"Hitomi-sensei! Hitomi-sensei!"

Hitomi turned toward the voice.

"Do you need something, Minako?"

"Well, I wanted to get better at taijutsu since I only know the Academy style, and I was considering the Gentle Fist. I know I don't have the Byakugan, but do you think you could show me the Gentle Fist in a fight? I thought maybe I could change it up to suit my personal style of fighting and use Gale Palm to hit harder."

"That_ is _a clever idea. I can do a round or two of sparring with you right now, but if you want some dedicated time, you're going to have to wait till tomorrow. I have to go check on your teammates and fill out some paperwork related to the mission report and all that. Come on, let's do this quickly."

* * *

**At Minako's training area**

"Wow. I've gotta say, I've never seen anyone use shadow clones like that before. It's really smart," remarked Hitomi. "Anyways, how do you want to do this?"

"I was thinking about alternating between one on one fighting so that I can closely observe your movements and sending several shadow clones at once to observe from multiple angles."

"Sounds fine to me. Ready when you are," said Hitomi, activating the Byakugan.

Minako took a deep breath and assumed a fighting stance. She ran up to Hitomi and scanned her for openings.

"If you're looking for an opening, you won't find one. That's the whole point of the Gentle Fist."

With that in mind, Minako went for a quick jab. Hitomi gracefully avoided the blow, wasting no movement, and thrust her palm at Minako's gut.

Minako moved an arm to block, but Hitomi slid her arm over it, striking her. Minako turned into a log, and Hitomi sensed Minako behind her, so she thrust her elbow backwards. Minako sidestepped the blow and went for another jab. Hitomi grabbed her wrist and used her momentum to flip her over her shoulder. Minako used a Gale Palm to break her fall and flipped over onto her feet.

Her brain got to work now, trying to think of a way to break through. She went through what she already knew about the Gentle Fist:

_The Gentle Fist does not rely on the user's physical strength. It generally uses precise, chakra-enhanced strikes and the visual prowess of the Byakugan to attack a target's tenketsu _(chakra points)_. And based on what Hitomi-sensei has been doing, it also uses the opponent's momentum against them. That means I have to be faster than her or take her by surprise. Of course, Gentle Fist users are the deadliest hand-to-hand combatants, and the Byakugan makes it even harder to take them by surprise due to the field of view and the fact that it enhances the user's reflexes. But with shadow clones and the substitution jutsu, I might just be able to do something. Beating her at her own game is out of the question, but a few feints should buy me enough time to set up an attack. The only uncertainty left now is the Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation… nothing can penetrate that jutsu. If only I could use the Adamantine Sealing Chains… _

Minako decided that using shadow clones and the substitution jutsu was her best bet. After all, there was no way a genin could beat a jounin, much less a war hero like Hitomi.

Minako created a shadow clone and had it tunnel underground. Then she created another one that transformed into a clip and attached itself to the end of her hair. The clip was attached loosely enough that it would come off if Minako was hit hard enough to knock her back or with a Wind Style jutsu.

_She can see the chakra in the clip, so it'll put her on guard. Still, an extra feint or two should do the trick._

Minako rushed Hitomi once more and threw another jab. Hitomi moved her arm in to counter, but Minako switched places with the shadow clone underground using a substitution and the clone tried to flip Hitomi over its shoulder just like Hitomi had done earlier. While Hitomi was busy dispelling the shadow clone, Minako popped up from a fair distance behind her.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Intrigued, Hitomi raised an eyebrow as she weaved around some of the shuriken.

For both kunoichi, everything appeared to go into slow motion all of a sudden.

One of the shuriken transformed into a clone of Minako, who threw even more shuriken and then proceeded to try and get a hit in on Hitomi. In the meantime, a few more of the shuriken turned into Minako clones and did exactly what the first clone did. A few of the shuriken that were thrown made it into the Byakugan's blind spot. One that didn't transformed into yet another Minako clone, which deflected all the shuriken in the blind spot towards Hitomi. Since Hitomi heard the sound but couldn't see it with her Byakugan, she turned to see what was happening. This caused her blind spot to shift. And the shuriken in the new blind spot were also hurtling towards her.

Suddenly, the real Minako substituted herself for the nearest shuriken in the blind spot. Hitomi turned to face her, so Minako switched to another shuriken. Minako continued to repeat this action.

"Substiution: Spiralling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three!"

Hitomi dodged all of the attacks perfectly.

_Perfect! The feints all worked! Now for the finisher._

"Substitution: Second Step!"

Hitomi just barely evaded the attack, and then proceeded to grab Minako and pin her to the ground.

"But how?..."

"I'm very impressed with that tactic, Minako, but there are a few issues with what you just attempted. First, I was using the Byakugan. Had you been a lot faster, your trick probably would have worked. It certainly would have taken down a chuunin or a lower level jounin who didn't have the Byakugan, but you won't always be so lucky in a fight. Second: as I just said, you were too slow. I think I'll give you some exercises to improve your footspeed in a fight. Also, you should use chakra to compensate for your speed until you've become fast enough. Lastly, I think it would be more beneficial if I taught you how to use the Gentle Fist before sparring with me. For now, you should try some of the exercises in this scroll and continue what you were doing before, alright?"

Minako had a disappointed expression. "…okay."

Hitomi handed her a scroll. "Anyhow, here are the exercises that you can use to improve your speed. I look forward to working with you tomorrow."

She disappeared in a shunshin. Minako, meanwhile, opened the scroll and read through some of the exercises.

_Sprinting_

_Instructions: Sprint as fast as you can for as long as you can._

_Recommended frequency: At least every other day._

_Effects: Increases stamina and speed._

_Minefield Hopscotch_

_Instructions: Copy the provided sealing array to create a field of sealing traps. Avoid the traps._

_Effects: Hones reflexes and makes you nimbler and quicker on your feet._

_Maze_

_Instructions: Copy the provided sealing array to create a maze that contains sealing traps. Navigate through the traps within the time limit set on the seal (which can be altered). _

_Effects: Hones reflexes and teaches you to change direction while moving at high speeds._

_NOTE: It is highly recommended to be at least adept at Minefield Hopscotch and Sprinting prior to attempting this._

Minako decided to start with sprinting. She ran and ran and ran until she was sweating profusely. By this time, it was getting quite dark. Minako made her way back to where she was originally training and continued with the Rasengan. There was no point in doing any other exercises since she would risk getting lost.

Forming a few shadow clones because the sprint had barely put a dent in her stamina, Minako filled some water balloons and attempted the third stage of the Rasengan exercises.

She started off by trying to use the balanced ratio of volume and rotation that she had gotten down during the second stage. She figured that it would make sense to try and put in as much chakra as possible and rotate it as violently as possible to a degree that would leave the balloon undisturbed. However, the closest ratios she had discovered during the rubber ball exercises caused the balloon to explode.

_No good… _thought Minako. _I'll have to use even finer chakra control than before!_

However, it was getting quite late, and Minako had only managed to prevent the balloon from bursting. It still moved around in her hand like jelly when she pumped chakra into it. So she decided to retire to her chambers for now.

* * *

**The next morning**

Minako woke up early to get a head start on her training. Besides, Hitomi would be arriving shortly to drill her about the Gentle Fist and help her improve her speed.

Minako got back to work on the Rasengan right away. If Shisui's estimate was correct, the information that T&I extracted would reach them in at most 3 days. That meant that Minako probably had less than 3 days to become proficient with the Rasengan _and_ get fast enough to beat Shisui.

* * *

**Short Timeskip**

The Shadow Clones were once again trying to balance the ratio of the chakra's rotation to its volume to ensure that the balloon didn't pop. Fortunately, it was apparent that the clones had made progress since yesterday; not only were they thinking about the ideal ratio instead of relying on trial and error, they were also causing less of a disturbance in the balloon. Where it had constantly been on the verge of bursting throughout the previous session, it was now rocking back and forth and spontaneously deforming a little in random places. It wasn't perfect, but it was a huge improvement from yesterday.

_If only I could rotate the chakra both ways at the same time so the chakra hits itself instead of the balloon… _thought Minako. _Wait. There might actually be another way to do that!_

Putting the balloon back in her hand, Minako infused some chakra and made it rotate very violently but separated the chakra into several distinct elliptical paths, all rotating the way her body naturally spun chakra. The rotating chakra would collide with itself, making the rotation inside even more violent but containing it within the balloon and only allowing the rotating chakra to interact with itself. However, Minako wasn't entirely sure how to keep the chakra rotating at constant rates, so her control over it wasn't exactly perfect. The balloon was rocking back and forth slightly and she could feel the water sloshing around inside, but there was almost no deformation of the balloon.

_That's it! If I can control this properly, I'll have one killer Rasengan!_

"Minako! You ready?"

The balloon in her hand popped almost immediately.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a bit."

Infusing some flame chakra to dry herself off, Minako walked over to where Hitomi was waiting.

* * *

**With Itachi**

Itachi once again stood in the middle of a field of targets, a second tomoe now present in each of his Sharingan. Currently, his routine consisted of throwing kunai and shuriken at the targets and then retrieving all of them as fast as possible. He knew he was improving because the Shadow Clone he was using was tracking him with the Sharingan and then relaying the memory to him, and Itachi noted that after every few attempts he would become a little faster. As the slowest of the trio, Itachi knew it was the most important for him to improve his speed.

_Shisui and Mina-chan are so far ahead. Even if Mina-chan is the sloppiest fighter, she has more raw speed than both of us. Not only that, she has absurd stamina which gives her the upper hand in most situations. All I can do well is genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu, but I suppose that in the ninjutsu department the three of us are basically equal. Dammit. I can't disappoint Father._

* * *

**With Minako**

Hitomi was drilling Minako on the basic Gentle Fist strikes and stances, showing her the technique and sparring with her using only basic moves.

Through this training, Minako came to appreciate the strengths of the Gentle Fist, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that made her feel a lack of satisfaction about the applications of the fighting style. It felt too rigid and limited compared to her previous fighting style, but unlike that one, it left no openings.

"Look, I get it. You probably think the Gentle Fist isn't flexible enough. And I don't blame you. In fact, I thought the same thing. But I think you should get a pretty good feel for its mechanics before you start putting your own personal twist on it."

"…okay."

Hitomi laughed a little. "I wasn't reading your mind, you know. Like I said, I feel the same way about the Gentle Fist, which is why I rarely use any of its standard strikes in real combat. Anyway, why don't you try coming at me with those strikes I taught you?"

**A/N: When Hitomi says strikes she means just the hand-to-hand combat. She uses special Gentle Fist techniques like the Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation and Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms regularly.**

Minako assumed the Gentle Fist stance and moved in to attack without breaking form. She aimed a palm strike at Hitomi's shoulder, but Hitomi pushed her arm to the side, letting Minako's own momentum throw her off-balance. With her free arm, Hitomi aimed a strike at Minako's shoulder, but Minako took advantage of her arm's momentum to sidestep the attack and then aim a palm strike at Hitomi's back. Hitomi promptly put some distance between the two of them, but Minako wasted no time closing in for another strike.

* * *

**Timeskip brought to you by Hitomi and Minako exchanging blows**

It was noon. The two kunoichi had been going at it for a while, and Hitomi found herself needing a break. Minako was starting to break a sweat too, so she agreed.

"Alright. Tell me, while we were sparring, did you notice anything unique about the Gentle Fist?"

"I did notice that unlike the 'style' I usually use, which just relies on me responding to any openings I see with brute force, the Gentle Fist when used without chakra seems to rely on the enemy's momentum."

"Exactly. And since it minimizes openings, it's the perfect remedy for your biggest weakness: your lack of technique. Sure, your wild, unpredictable fighting style might be effective against lower-level opponents, but now, you will face enemies who will not hesitate to strike at any openings. Continuing to rely solely on your current fighting style is not practical because you will always find yourself preoccupied with covering up any openings. Until you can become faster, I suggest that you stick to a safer fighting style that will let you focus on offense. Additionally, being able to use the opponent's momentum to your advantage will be a big help against anyone who has brute strength. Anyhow, I suppose that's enough for today. I have to be on my way now. I look forward to seeing where you go with the Gentle Fist and your personal training. See ya!"

Hitomi promptly shunshined away, leaving Minako to her thoughts.

_Alright, time to get back to work on the Rasengan._

Since she could pretty much control the chakra in the balloon and keep it from exploding, Minako figured that trying to form a complete Rasengan was worth a try.

Thinking back to the proportions between the amount of chakra and the rotation that had to be applied, Minako decided to start with the ratio that was easiest to control.

She infused chakra into the palm of her hand and began to rotate it violently while also visualizing a bounded area where she wanted to contain the chakra.

An unstable ball of rotating chakra began to form in her hand. Closing her eyes and trying to feel the chakra instead of see it, Minako discovered that since there was no physical container for the chakra, the amount of chakra would have to be increased to keep the rotation contained. Increasing the amount of chakra would increase its resistance to the rotation, making it easier to control. It would have a much less significant effect on the Rasengan's damage output than simply decreasing the rotation. It would also allow for more violent rotation.

While applying the same amount of force for the rotation, Minako increased the amount of chakra by about 10%. She noticed the chakra beginning to stabilize, but before it could fully stabilize, it expanded a little and kind of exploded in her hand.

She failed to hold back a soft cry of pain. Internally, she admonished herself for forgetting to maintain a balance between the amount of chakra and the rotation. If there was too much chakra and not enough rotation, the chakra would force itself to expand, and when it expanded too much, it would burst. If there was too much rotation and not enough chakra, the chakra would fail to contain its own rotation and burst, albeit more violently. According to the Rasengan's scroll, the same principles were the foundation of several of the Rasengan's variations, namely the Giant Rasengan and the Violent Rasengan:

**A/N: The Violent Rasengan is just something I made up. I can't really think of any other name that fits it, so sorry if it sounds stupid.**

_Variants of the Rasengan: Enlarging and Shrinking_

_To create the Giant Rasengan (or simply enlarge the Rasengan), excessive chakra must be used to force the basic Rasengan to expand. Then, before the Rasengan can explode, the user must add more rotation to stabilize it. As long as the Rasengan is kept from exploding, it is theoretically possible to make it as large as the user wishes, provided they have sufficient chakra. Enlarging the Rasengan can increase the blunt force damage it causes._

_To create the Violent Rasengan (or simply shrink the Rasengan), excessive rotation must be used while reducing the amount of chakra. This is done by allowing some chakra to break free from the Rasengan. At first, the rotation must be reduced gradually to keep the shrinking Rasengan stable. Once stabilized, the user can pack chakra into the smaller space very densely while adding as much rotation as possible. The smaller the Rasengan is made and the more violent the rotation, the easier it is for the attack to penetrate something. This makes the Violent Rasengan very effective at impaling targets or grinding something up. Effectively, a small Rasengan can be made to behave like a drill that cannot be stopped by any barrier, provided the user's chakra control is fine enough to pack a lot of chakra into a small space and then rotate it violently._

Keeping that in mind, Minako tried to form another Rasengan. This time, she played around with the amount of chakra and the rotation in order to find out the most unbalanced proportions that would still result in a stable Rasengan.

Minako carried on like this for a while, and after a few attempts, she had gotten it. However, her hand had become too sore to continue.

She grimaced in pain, but found it oddly satisfying. After all, this pain was a small price to pay for her new Jutsu. Minako figured that with a little practice, the Rasengan would give her an edge over her two teammates.

_Just you wait, Shisui and Itachi. You are _so _going down._

"Ah!"

Minako had unconsciously clenched her sore hand, and now it hurt. A lot.

_After my hand goes back to normal, that is._

* * *

**That's it for now, I guess. Sorry I took so long. I just didn't get any time during the past 2 or 3 weeks to write this chapter. On top of that, I kind of dragged this out way longer than I usually do, so that was another factor. In any case, the next chapter or two will also be relatively long, so that'll probably take me a while to finish. Anyway, if you have any advice or found some flaws in my writing, a critical review would be much appreciated. **

**Next time: Minako learns to control the Rasengan and also becomes somewhat faster due to her training. The last day is coming up fast, and Shisui is anxious to see the results of Minako's secret training. Who will come out on top when they finally duke it out?**


End file.
